Dasyhelea bifida Zilahi-Sebess 1936
Creators: name: Huerta, Heron
name: Romero, Daniel I.
name: Díaz, Florentina
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Ceratopogonidae
Dasyhelea
Dasyhelea bifida

description: Dasyhelea bifida Zilahi-Sebess, 1936
(Figures 1–2)
Dasyhelea fasciigera var. bifida Zilahi-Sebess 1936: 44 (male, figure; Hungary).
Zilahi-Sebess 1940: 48 (male description, figure; Hungary).
Dasyhelea bifida Zilahi-Sebess: Remm 1967: 21 (male, figure; Azerbaijan); Damian-Georgescu 1975: 97 (Pseudoculicoides subgenus; male description, figure; Romania); Remm 1988: 80 (catalogue Palaearctic; distribution); Szadziewski 1991: 106 (Poland); Navai 1994: 364 (male description; figure; Afghanistan); Borkent and Wirth 1997: 52 (catalogue world species of biting midges); Yu et al. 2006: 237 (male description, figure; China); Dominiak et al. 2007: 260 (Pseudoculicoides subgenus; male, figure; Israel); Dominiak and Szadziewski 2010: 7 (comments on synonymy with D. furva Remm, distribution Poland, Ukraine); Dominiak 2012: 268 (male, female, diagnosis, description, key, figures, biology, distribution; synonymy with D. excellentis; Poland); Dominiak and Alwin 2013: 137 (distribution, Lebanon); Stur and Borkent 2014: 114 (Pseudoculicoides subgenus; male; DNA barcoding; Norway); Salmela et al. 2015: 60 (distribution, male figure; Finland); Borkent and Dominiak 2020: 43 (catalogue of the biting midges of the world).
Dasyhelea excellentis Borkent, 1996, p. 91 (male, female, figures; USA: Hawaii).
Diagnosis. The only species of the fasciigera complex with males with outer gonostylus distinctly bent at midlength; inner gonostylus divided into unequal and slightly divergent arms; gonocoxite with subapical tubercle; distal portion of paramere near the posteromesal margin of gonocoxite; aedeagus H-shaped, with basal arms slightly divergent; apicolateral processes of tergite 9 finger-like, close to each other. Females uniformly dark brown, except lighter pigmented scutellum than scutum and a small (40 μm × 30 μm), ovoid spermatheca.
Male. (Figures 1A–E, 2A–B, D–F) Head. Dark brown (Figure 1A). Eyes densely pubescent, contiguous by width of 4 ommatidia. Antennal flagellum (Figure 1B) with flagellomeres 2– 9 short, rhomboidal, flagellomeres 10–13 elongate, cylindrical, 13 shorter than 12; AR 0.95 (0.94–0.97, n = 2). Clypeus with 2 pairs of setae. Palpus (Figure 1A–B) pale brown; segment 3 as long as segments 4 + 5, with scattered capitate sensilla; PR 4.5 (4.3–4.8, n = 2). Thorax. Scutum (Figure 1C) dark brown; scutellum pale brown with 6 setae. Wing (Figure 1D) length 1.12 mm, width 0.35 mm; CR 0.45. Halter white. Genitalia. (Figures 1E, 2A–B, D–F). Dark brown. Tergite 9 (Figures 1E, 2A–B, D) with posterior margin rounded, that extends to apices of gonocoxites; apicolateral process finger-like, divergent, stout with apical short seta; cercus very small, rounded with minute setae. Sternite 9 (Figures 1E, 2D) length 0.50 of greatest width; distal portion triangular, greatly tapering, apex rounded tapered with regular margins and slender, rounded apex. Gonocoxite (Figures 1E, 2A, D) stout, straight, 1.9× longer than broad, with subapical, mesal, rounded process with long seta, distal margin with tuft of long setae. Gonostylus (Figures 1E, 2A, D) bifurcate; outer gonostylus distinctly bent at midlength, with subbasal lobe with apical seta; inner gonostylus subdivided, outer arm shorter than inner arm, with weak, subapical seta; inner arm curved, wider than outer arm, widest basally, tapering to apex, with strong, apical seta. Gonocoxal apodemes and paramere (Figures 1E, 2D–E) in form of asymmetrical structure; gonocoxal apodemes heavily sclerotised, right gonocoxal apodeme stout, curved, broadly fused with paramere; left apodeme much longer, moderately broad, recurved, extreme apical section narrowly fused to paramere; paramere broad proximally, nearly straight, tapering to pointed tip. Aedeagus H-shaped (Figures 1E, 2D, F) 0.30 length of greatest width; basal arch slightly sclerotised, shallow, extending 0.25 of total aedeagus length, distal margin concave; basal arm, heavily sclerotised, divergent, small, rounded; posterolateral arm heavily sclerotised, distal portion with a small, pointed tooth; apex with recurved tip.
Redescription of female. Head. Dark brown (Figure 1F). Eyes contiguous for a distance equal to length of 3–4 ommatidia. Antennal flagellum (Figure 1G) with flagellomeres 2–8 vasiform, 9–13 vasiform, slightly longer than 2–8; AR 0.91. Clypeus (Figure 1G) broad with broad, detached wing-like proximal portion; distal portion narrow with 3 pairs of setae. Palpus (Figure 1H) pale brown; segment 3 longest, with 2–3 capitate sensilla on mesal surface; PR 3.4. Thorax. Scutum dark brown; scutellum (Figure 1I) paler with 6 setae. Femora, tibiae dark brown, tarsi slightly paler; hind tibial comb with 7 spines; prothoracic tarsal ratio 2.28; metathoracic tarsal ratio 2.22. Wing (Figure 1J). Membrane hyaline, covered with dense macrotrichia; 2nd radial cell reduced. Abdomen. Dark brown (Figures 1K, 2C). Subgenital plate of the available specimen is mounted laterally and apparently with broad lumen; posterolateral arms slender, recurved. Spermatheca (Figure 1K) small (40 μm × 30 μm), ovoid, heavily sclerotised, with neck short.
Material examined. MEXICO, Ciudad de México, Coyoacán, July 1944, Leg. A. Dampf, (MF 9792) in CAIM, light trap, 3 males, 1 female mounted on slides.
Distribution. This species is distributed in the Paleartic region in Europe and Argelia, and in the Nearctic region in Canada (Yukon territory) and Hawaii. The species is herein recorded for the first time from Mexico.
description: Published as part of Huerta, Heron, Romero, Daniel I. & Díaz, Florentina, 2023, Full redescription and first record of Dasyhelea bifida Zilahi-Sebess (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from Mexico, pp. 1464-1471 in Journal of Natural History 57 (29 - 32) on pages 1465-1469, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2023.2257386, http://zenodo.org/record/10594326