Polypedilum nubifer Skuse
Creators: name: Cranston, Peter S.
name: Martin, Jon
name: Spies, Martin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Chironomidae
Polypedilum
Polypedilum nubifer

description: Polypedilum nubifer (Skuse)
(Figs 1B, E, H; 2A, D; 3A, B, D; 4A, C,E; 5A) urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:
Chironomus nubifer Skuse, 1889 (Skuse, 1889, description of both adult sexes).
Chironomus (Polypedilum) octoguttatus Tokunaga, 1936; Sasa (1979, description of all stages).
Remaining synonymy as in Freeman (1961), Sasa & Sublette (1980), Kobayashi & Endo (2008), Cranston et al. (2013).
Type material. Lectotype ♂, of Chironomus nubifer, designated by Freeman (1961), slide mounted in Euparal (by PSC), [AUSTRALIA: New South Wales] Berowra, F.A.A. Skuse (ANIC).
Other material. Paralectotypes 1♂, 3♀♀, slide mounted in Euparal (by PSC), [New South Wales] Wheeney (sic! = Wheeny), Jan. [F.A.A. Skuse] (ANIC).
Lectotype ♂ of Polypedilum pelostolum Kieffer, hereby designated, slide mounted in Euparal (by PSC), label data verbatim ‘Tainan / Formosa / H. Sauter (print), XI, 09’ (ink), ‘Kieffer det’ (print), ‘ COTYPUS’, ‘paratypus’ (print), ‘DEI Müncheberg / Dip-00019’.
Paralectotypes (only those examined on slide mounts in Euparal (PSC)), 1♀, same slide as Lectotype; same data except ‘ DEI Müncheberg / Dip-00018’; 1♂, same data as Lectotype except ‘ DEI Müncheberg / Dip-00009’; 1♂, ‘ Formosa, Sauter’, ‘ Tainan 902IV’, ‘ pelostolum Kieff. [ink] det. Kieffer’, ‘ Purchd. from Budapest Mus. B.M. 1922-72 ’ ‘ BMNH (E) 1240747’; 1♀, same, except BMNH (E) 1240748’.
4
Additional material, examined for mensural (Table 1) and molecular vouchering.
AUSTRALIA: Victoria, Werribee, ‘ Metropolitan Farm’, 23.iv.1970 (Martin), many ♂ ♀ reared from individual egg masses (ANIC); New South Wales, Yanco Agricultural Institute, reared ex egg masses from rice fields (Stevens) (ANIC) (L, MV); South Australia, Bolivar lagoon 32, 2.v.2013 (Hincks) (ANIC-MV) (Larvae); Western Australia, Cockburn City, Yangebup Lake,. i.2014 (Harris) (ANIC-MV) (Larvae); Northern Territory, Palm Valley, 24°03'N 132°42'E, 29.v.1992 (Cranston), reared from egg mass (Martin); Pe, Ranger Uranium Mine Retention Pond 1, 31.v.1988 (Cranston)(ANIC).
SINGAPORE: Pandan Reservoir, 1°19'7"N 103°44'35"E, multiple dates from. xi.2012 and. v.2014 (NUS team) (ANIC, BMNH, most to RMBR) (all life stages, MV).
JAPAN: Okinawa: Yonaguni Is., Iriomote Is., Miyako Is., Okinawa Is, Kume Is; Kagoshima: Amami Is., Tanegashima Is.; Miyazaki: Nichinan Coast; Yamaguchi, R. Oze; Hiroshima: R. Gonogawa, R. Ashida, R. Nuta; Shiga: L. Biwa; Gifu: R. Nagara (K. Kawai) (ANIC), 1♂, slide mounted, from each location.
ISRAEL: Bief Netufa, Biq`at Valley area, 32°46’N 35°15’E, 15.ix.1968 (J. Kugler) (ANIC), 2♂, ♀, L(cytology); Kazorea Waste Pond (L, MV); Elroi Spring, Kiryat Tivon, 32°43’N 35°7’E 20.viii.2005 (L. Meltzer) ANIC) L; Kfar Yehoshua, 32°41’N 35°9’E 19.vi.2007 (N. Meltzer) (ANIC) L (MV). HAWAI’I: Kealia Pond, Kihei, Maui, 20°47’06” 156°27’56”, 8.xi.1999 (M. Nishimoto) (L, MV).
Description. Adults (Figs 1B,E, H, 2A, 5A). For mensural features of specimens of both sexes in the type series and various geographic populations, see Table 1. Descriptions by Sasa (1979) and Sasa & Sublette (1980) are not contradicted. Frontal tubercles digitiform, 10–30 µm long. Fore tibial apex a rounded scale without spine (Fig. 1B). Pulvillus (Fig. 5A) divided in 2 parts; outer densely plumose but not forming ‘pad’, not extending to tip of claw; inner part longer and multiple branched; empodium narrow, weakly plumose and extending slightly beyond inner pulvillus branch. Tergite IX with ovoid pale setiferous area (TIX, Table 1). Male genitalia as in Fig. 1E. Anal point parallel-sided. Gonocoxite bulging outward, broadly connected to gonostylus by pale membranous area. Gonostylus broad, distally with weak to strongly bilobed apex. Superior volsella narrow and sinuous, its shape varying according to aspect, apex upcurved; no seta at mid-length.
The female genitalia (of a paralectotype) are illustrated for the first time in detail (Figs 1H, 2A) to allow comparison to congeners. Seminal capsules located near anterior end of notum, pale, ovoid, c. 100 x 70 –80 µm; seminal ducts short, straight, leading directly to separate openings. Cerci rounded rectangular, 85–100 µm long x 60 –70 wide. Gonapophysis VIII lobes (Fig. 2A): apodeme lobe not visible, dorsomesal lobe (DmL) strongly developed, almost rectangular on inner contour, densely setose with apical setae curved mesad; ventrolateral lobe (VlL) c. 60–70 µm long, densely setose with apical setae directed more posteriad than mesad. VlL extended more posteriorly than DmL, but both ‘large’. Postgenital plate with distinct, strongly setose projection.
Pupa (Figs 2D, 3A, B, D). Exuvial length 5.5–7.5 mm. Pale yellow with golden-brown highlights (spinules, hooklets, cephalic tubercles, wing and antenna sheath margins, apophyses), and medium to dark brown caudolateral ‘comb’. Cephalic tubercles (Fig. 3A) triangular, 55–72 µm long and about equally wide at base, subapically bearing 25–32 µm long frontal seta inserted on tubercle just subapically. Thoracic horn highly plumose, arising from golden, oval basal ring. Thorax near dorsal midline with small tubercles aligned in unibiserial row. Abdominal tergite spine/spinule pattern and setation as in Fig. 3B. Hook row on segment II c. 60–65% of tergite width, with c. 76–88 hooklets. Caudolateral ‘comb’ on VIII (Figs 2D, 3D) extends from L4 setal base on broad dark apophysis, with dominant (apical-most) spine and several subsidiary spines extending along strongly darkened submargin. Anal lobe fringe unevenly bi-serial, especially posteriorly, with 44–75 taeniae, without dorsal seta.
Larva (Fig. 4A, C, E). For mensural features see Table 2. Head golden yellow, with dark, broad occipital margin (Table 2, oml) and usually substantially dark brown to black postmentum. Antenna (Fig. 4A) with alternate Lauterborn organs on a segment that might be either a more or less divided 2nd segment; blade extending no further than apex of this segment. Mentum (Fig. 4C) with paired median teeth, and 7 pairs of laterals of which 1 st are very small, 2nd as high as medians, and 6th higher than 4th, 5th and 7th laterals. Microsculpture of ventromental plate (Fig. 4E): with dense striae, terminating anteriorly on outer (lateralmost) corner of plate in elongate lamellae without hooks or lobes. Body conventional for the genus.
description: Published as part of Cranston, Peter S., Martin, Jon & Spies, Martin, 2016, Cryptic species in the nuisance midge Polypedilum nubifer (Skuse) (Diptera: Chironomidae) and the status of Tripedilum Kieffer, pp. 429-447 in Zootaxa 4079 (4) on pages 434-438, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4079.4.3, http://zenodo.org/record/1050863