PORTSCHINSKIA LOEWII (SCHNABL, 1877)

Microcephalus loewii Schnabl, 1877: 52. Type locality: Russia: Irkutsk region, Bodajbo river (tributary of Vitim) [originally as ‘Jenisseisk, Sibiria occid’, but corrected by Schnabl (1877)].

Microcephalus loewi: Portschinsky (1881: 137, as ‘ Microcephalo Loewi Schnabl’). Erroneous subsequent spelling of Microcephalus loewii Schnabl, 1877.

Portschinskia loewii: Grunin (1965: 49); Zumpt (1965: 192); Minář et al. (1985); Soós & Minář (1986: 246); Colwell et al. (2006: 262).

Diagnosis: Hair-like setae on frons and facial ridge yellow. Abdomen in male with yellow setae anteriorly, followed by black setae and with dense yellow setae on last two segments, and in female the abdomen with black setae anteriorly and yellow setae on the last two segments. Male abdominal sternite 5 approximately square.

Redescription: Male: Body length 19.5 mm; wing length and width 16.1 mm × 6.0 mm (N = 2). Large compound eye, height relative to head ≥ 1/2. Antennal pedicel longer than broad; slightly concave on terminal margin (Fig. 5E). Width of frons ~1/2 width of head in dorsal view. Hair-like setae on frons, facial ridge, presutural area of scutum, anepisternum, postalar callus, scutellum and postpronotal lobe yellow. Abdomen with yellow setae anteriorly, followed by black setae and with dense yellow setae on last two segments (Figs 1E, 3E, 5E). Wing hyaline or light brown; vein M strongly curved after dm-cu; cell r 4 + 5 either narrowly open or closed at the wing margin or with a short petiole (Fig. 9E; Grunin, 1965: 50). Male abdominal sternite 5 approximately square, with lateral margins paralleled and straight (Grunin, 1965: fig. 65). Male cerci moderately flattened, with basal part strongly swollen (Grunin, 1965: fig. 64).

Female: Differing from the male as follows: body length 21 mm; wing length and width 17 mm × 6 mm (N = 2). Width of frons ~1/3 width of head in dorsal view. Abdomen with black setae anteriorly, and yellow setae on the last two segments.

Type material examined: Holotype of Microcephalus loewii: ♀, RUSSIA: Irkutsk region, Bodajbo river (tributary of Vitim river), 12 July 1871, Kietlinsk leg. (NMW).

Additional material examined: One ♂, RUSSIA: Novosibirsk, Teletskoe lake, 27 June 2013, J. Smit leg. (private collection of J. Smit) [from photograph]; one ♂, RUSSIA: Evreiskaya Autonomous Region, Bastak Nature Reserve VII.2003, A. Streltsov leg. (SBRAS); one ♀, RUSSIA: Amur Region, Zejskij Reserve (N54.12, E126.93), 13 July 2012, V. Dubatolov leg. (SBRAS) [from photograph].

Biology: Grunin (1965) considered the Alpine pika [Ochotona alpina (Pallas, 1773)] to be the host, and Minář et al. (1985) recorded larvae from a northern pika [Ochotona hyperborea (Pallas, 1811)]. However, in both cases no adult flies were bred, and the identifications rely on the distribution of P. loewii as documented from a few adults. Third instar larvae have been found from early July to early September and adults from late June to late July; females produce ~ 700 eggs (Grunin 1965). We are here tentatively accepting the Mongolian record by Minář et al. (1985), which is based on a second and a third instar larva extracted from a northern pika.

Remarks: Schnabl (1877: 52) explicitly mentioned that he had only one specimen before him (‘… bei dem einzelnen Examplare’), which makes this the holotype by monotypy in agreement with Article 73.1.2 of the Code (ICZN, 1999). He tentatively, and mistakenly, considered this to be a male. Schnabl (1877: 52) gave the type locality as ‘Patria: Jenniseisk, Sibiria occid.’, but he later (Schnabl, 1882: 13) corrected this to be ‘Olekminer Kreise in den am Flusse Bodajbo (Zufluʃs des Flusses Witim) gelegenen Goldgrube, im Fluʃsgebiete der Lena’. The original label of the holotype (Fig. 14D) appears to have given the locality as ‘e Jenisseisk’, but the latter word has since been struck out, and ‘Jakuck’ has been written above it.

Soós & Minář (1986: 246) listed the spelling ‘ loewi ’ as used by ‘authors’ as an unjustified emendation, but we did not find any support for an intentional change by Portschinsky (1881) and therefore treat this as an incorrect subsequent spelling.

Distribution: Mongolia (?), Russia (eastern Siberia, western Siberia and Far East).