Tipula (Vestiplex) borthi Starkevich & Men & Saldaitis 2019, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Starkevich, Pavel
name: Men, Qiu-Lei
name: Saldaitis, Aidas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Bibionidae
Tipula
Tipula borthi

description: Tipula (Vestiplex) borthi sp. nov.
(Figs 1–8)
Holotype: male, China, N. Sichuan, 20 km N. Maoxian, elev. 1820 m, N31°46.310’, E103°42.898’, 20.v.2017, A. Saldaitis leg., genitalia slide No. PS 0411m (NRC).
Paratypes: 7 males topotypic, wing slide No. PS0412m; 1 male, China, Qinghai, South from Xining, Laji Shan Mt., elev. 3070 m, N36°22.614’, E101°33.644’, 26–29.V.2017, A. Saldaitis leg.; 5 males, S.W. Gansu, Xiahe (Labrang), elev. 2900 m, N35°11.968’, E102°33.545’, 23.V.2017, A. Saldaitis leg. (NRC).
Diagnosis. A medium-sized crane fly with brownish-gray thorax, yellowish-brown abdomen and yellowishbrown wing spotted within translucent areas. Antenna, almost reaching the end of the abdomen if bent backward. Tergite 9 in the shape of pale-yellow, rectangular saucer-shaped plate, with posterior margin blackened and microscopically roughened, broadly emarginated, medially with small incision; lateral corner obtuse; dorsomedian sclerotised area anteriorly extended into raised convex plate. Gonocoxite subtriangular. Outer gonostylus narrow, finger-shaped. Inner gonostylus in the shape of broad plate, beak extended into large rostrum with ventral and median sclerotised areas, dorsal margin with broad triangular curved tooth.
Description. Adult (Fig. 1), male (N=14). General body coloration brownish-gray. Body length 9.7–11.9 mm, wing length 11.5–13.5 mm.
Head. Brownish gray, vertex and occiput gray pruinose, with dark brown median line. Rostrum brownish, very thinly dusted with gray, nasus gray and relatively short. Antenna 13-segmented, almost reaching the end of the abdomen if bent backward. Scape brown, gray pruinose, three times as long as pedicel, expanded apically, pedicel brown, thinly gray pruinose, very short. Flagellum with the first flagellomere cylindrical, entirely yellowish-brown, distinctly shorter than next 7 flagellomeres. The second flagellomere bicolorous, with enlarged base dark brown and apical half brown, flagellomeres 2–4 subequal in length, with subsequent flagellomeres gradually shorter apically. Basal enlargement with abundant black verticils, distinctly shorter than length of corresponding flagellomeres. Palpus black.
Thorax. Brownish-gray. Pronotum brown, gray pruinose. Mesonotal prescutum brown, gray pruinose with four darker longitudinal stripes, median pair bordered by dark brown. Interspace between median and lateral stripes gray with light and short setae. Scutum brown, gray pruinose with two darkened spots. Scutellum and mediotergite brown, gray pruinose. Pleuron brown, thinly dusted with gray. Leg slender, coxa brown, thinly dusted with gray, trochanter, femur and tibia yellowish-brown with dark brown tips, tarsal segments passing into dark brown. Tarsal claw simple without tooth. Wing (Fig. 2) yellowish-brown, wing cells marbled with darker spots: faint brown marks at arcular area, at origin of Rs and at pterostigma area, with brown clouds in middle and distal area of cell bm, later extended along CuA 2. Discal cell narrow, elongated, petiole of cell m 1 distinctly shorter than discal cell, cell m 1 twice as long as petiole. Halter entirely yellowish-brown, thinly dusted with gray.
Abdomen. Yellowish-brown, with narrow lateral stripe reaching tergite 8, sternites 1–5 entirely yellowishbrown, remaining sternites gradually darker.
Hypopygium. Brown. Tergite 9 (Fig. 4) in the shape of shallowly emarginated, pale-yellow, rectangular saucer-shaped plate. Posterior margin of tergal saucer blackened and microscopically roughened, broadly emarginated, medially with small incision. Lateral corners of tergal saucer obtuse. A pair of small blackened points near lateral corners. Tergal saucer with specific dorsomedian sclerotised area, anteriorly extended into raised convex plate. Gonocoxite short, subtriangular, unarmed (Figs 3, 5). Outer gonostylus narrow, finger-shaped (Fig. 5). Inner gonostylus in the shape of broad plate, beak extended into large rostrum with ventral and median sclerotised areas, dorsal margin with broad triangular curved tooth (Fig. 7). Adminiculum in the shape of a depressed flattened plate, posterolaterally produced into obtuse projection (Fig. 8). Sternite 9 with two small blackened sclerites (Fig. 5).
Comparative material examined: T. (V.) aptera: Lectotype, male, China, Qinghai, Sanka village, Den-chu river, Kam, Yangtze basin, 17.VI.1901 (Kozlov); paralectotypes, 2 males, topotypic (ZIN); T. (V.) erectiloba: Holotype, male, China, Sichuan, Mount Omei, altitude 11000 feet, 26.V.1938 (Tsen); paratypes, 12 males, topotypic (USNM); T. (V.) pauxilla: Holotype, male, China, Sichuan, Dza-chu river, Kam, Yangtze basin, IV.1901 (Kozlov); paratypes, 2 males, topotypic, V.1901 (Kozlov); paratypes, 4 males, Gorin-Chu river, Kam, Yangtze basin, V.1901 (Kozlov) (ZIN); T. (V.) setigera: Holotype, male, China, Qinghai, Amdos Highland, Ngvarsi river, Pass Namyn-gyg, altitude 3394 m, 16.V.1885 (Potanin) (ZIN).
Biology and distribution. A total of 14 males were collected at the end of May 2017 in remote parts of central and west China including Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu Provinces near the Maoxian, Xining and Xiahe. The new species was collected at altitudes ranging from 1800 to 3000 m in the following mountainous areas: dry valley of mountain river, rarely covered by mixed forest and dominated by deciduous trees and bushes (Maoxian, Sichuan) (Fig. 37); narrow and stony river, valley rarely covered by mixed bushes (Xiahe, Gansu); shrubby transition, dominated by willows and birches, between the mountain coniferous forest and the alpine grassland zones (near Xining, Qinghai).
Discussion. The new species was compared to all four known species in this group based on type or non-type material, and it is mostly similar to T. (V.) pauxilla in body color, wing venation, shape of tergite 9 and inner gonostylus. T. (V.) borthi sp. nov. can be easily separated by its long antenna almost reaching the end of the abdomen (reaching half of abdomen in T. (V.) pauxilla), yellowish-brown abdomen (distinctly reddish-yellow in T. (V.) pauxilla), entirely black palpus (yellowish brown in T. (V.) pauxilla), brown pedicel (pedicel yellow in T. (V.) pauxilla), tergite 9 with obtuse lateral corner (distinctly rounded in T. (V.) pauxilla) and inner gonostylus with large rostrum (small in T. (V.) pauxilla).
Etymology. The new species is named after our good friend, prominent specialist of genus Catocala (Lepidoptera) Robert Borth.
Tipula (Vestiplex) virgatula species group
The virgatula group was proposed by Savchenko (1960, 1964) with additional discussion in Dia and Theowald (1982). Males of the virgatula group are characterized by large triangular or subrectangular gonocoxite and tergite 9 with weakly modified tergal saucer. An additional feature that characterizes males of the virgatula group is the small gonapophyses (Fig. 17). Females with hypovalvae greatly reduced, tooth-shaped. The virgatula group includes the following species in China: T. (V.) aestiva Savchenko, 1960 (China), T. (V.) opilionimorpha Savchenko, 1955 (China) and T. (V.) virgatula (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia and Mongolia).
description: Published as part of Starkevich, Pavel, Men, Qiu-Lei & Saldaitis, Aidas, 2019, Four new crane fly species of subgenus Tipula (Vestiplex) (Diptera, Tipulidae) from China, pp. 69-86 in Zootaxa 4679 (1) on pages 71-74, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4679.1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/3470070