Paracricotopus sturae Namayandeh & Ghaderi, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Namayandeh, Armin
name: Ghaderi, Edris
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Chironomidae
Paracricotopus
Paracricotopus sturae

description: Paracricotopus sturae sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: EBAD787F-6A8A-46E1-A8CD-79CDCABE509A
Figs. 1–2 & 7G
Type material. Holotype: 1 Male; Norway, Trøndelag, Trondheim, Sommerlystvegen, 75 moh, Malaise trap, 63.405˚N, 10.383˚E; 03.viii.2014; leg. E.Stur & T. Ekrem; det. A. Namayandeh; No. NTNU-VM 182763; BOLD ID: BIOUG16260 -E10. 1; dep. NTNU. Paratype: 1 male Norway, Trøndelag, Trondheim, Sommerlystvegen, 75 moh, Malaise trap, 63.405˚N, 10.383˚E; 17.viii.2014; leg. E. Stur & T. Ekrem; det. Armin Namayandeh; No. NTNU-VM 182765, BOLD ID: BIOUG16480 -E12. 1 Female same as holotype except 17.viii.2014; NTNU-VM 182764; BOLD ID: BIOUG16479 -D02; dep. NTNU.
Etymology. The new species is named in honor of Dr. Elisabeth Stur of NTNU, Norway, who collected the type specimens and made this study possible.
Diagnostic characters. The adults of P. sturae can be separated from the closely related species by the combination of the following characteristics: Adult male with costa extension 61–66 μm long; tergite I–VI with 4 lateral setae, tergite I anterior basal setae, and posterior marginal setae arranged in 4 diagonal rows in 2/1/1/3 format, tergites VII–VIII with 3 lateral setae; anal point triangular with sharp apex, 21–29, 25 μm long; inferior volsella, a large lobe slightly curved, located at the mid-section of gonocoxite; gonostylus with conspicuous preapical crista dorsalis. Female squama with 9 setae, costa extension 86 μm long, tergite I with 4 lateral setae, anterior basal setae, and posterior marginal setae arranged in 4 diagonal rows in 2/1/1/4 format, tergites II–VIII with 3 lateral setae; notum 90 µm long. Adults with tergites II–VIII with anterior basal setae and posterior marginal setae in two parallel rows.
Description. Male (n = 2, unless otherwise stated).
Total length 2.1–2.4, 2.2 mm. Wing length 1.3–1.4 mm. Haltere 242 μm long (n = 1).
Coloration. Head and thorax dark brown. Haltere brown. Wing greyish, light. Legs light brown. Abdominal tergites brown; sternites whitish grey.
Head (Fig. 1A). Antenna Missing. Eyes hairy, without dorsomedial extension. Coronal setae 4. Temporal setae 4, including 2 frontals and 2 outer verticals (n = 1). Tentorium narrow with tentorial pit close to apex (Fig. 1A), tentorium 139–151, 145 μm long. Clypeus rectangular, 79–83, 81 μm long and 123–134, 128 μm wide, bearing 14 setae, setae 59–74, 66 μm long. Palpal segments lengths (in μm): 68–70, 69; 44–52, 48; 77–84, 80; 101–117, 109; 125–160, 142.
Thorax (Fig. 1B). Acrostichals 12; dorsocentrals 7; prealars 3; scutellars 7 in single row. Antepronotal lobes developed, with small gap and bearing 4–11, 8 setae.
Wing (Fig. 1C). Brachiolum with 1 seta. Squama with 8–9 setae. R with 5–7 setae, other veins bare. Costa extension 61–66, 63 μm long. Anal lobe rounded. Microtrichia only visible at> 1000 x magnification.
Legs. Hind and mid femurs with keel. Pulvilli developed. Foreleg and hid tarsal 5 th segment missing, mid tibia spurs 16–17, 17 and 13 μm long, hind tibia spurs 34–35 and 16–18, 17 μm long, hind tibia comb with around 10–12 spines. Lengths and proportions of legs as in Table 1.
Abdominal tergite setation (Fig. 7G). Tergite I with 4 lateral setae, anterior basal setae, and posterior marginal setae arranged in 4 diagonal rows in 2/1/1/3 format. Tergites II–VI with 4 lateral setae. Tergites VII–VIII with 3 lateral setae. Tergites II–VIII with anterior basal setae, and posterior marginal setae in two parallel rows.
Hypopygium (Fig. 1D). Anal point triangular with sharp apex, 21–29, 25 μm long and 12–17, 15 μm wide. Transverse sternapodeme 66–67 μm long. Phallapodeme 36–41, 38 μm long. Inferior volsella, a large lobe slightly curved, located at the mid-section of gonocoxite. Gonocoxite 116–137, 126 μm long. Gonostylus 74 μm long, with conspicuous preapical crista dorsalis; megaseta 10–11 μm long. HR 1.6–1.9, 1.7, HV 2.8–3.3, 3.0.
Female (n = 1).
Total length 3.4 mm. Wing length 1.2 mm, wing width 0.50 mm. Haltere 243 μm long.
Coloration. Head, including antenna and thorax dark brown. Haltere brown. Wing greyish, light. Legs light brown. abdominal tergites brown; sternites whitish grey.
Head (Fig. 2A). Antennal segments 1– 3 (in μm): 58, 38, 38; other segments missing. Eyes hairy. Temporal setae 5, including 2 frontals, 1 orbitals, and 2 outer verticals. Tentorium 123 μm long. Clypeus rectangular 80 μm long and 128 μm wide, bearing 12 setae, setae 51–63, 57 μm long. Palpal segments lengths (in μm): 51, 46, 75, 105, 183.
Thorax (Fig. 2B). Acrostichals 2 visible. Dorsocentrals 12; prealars 3; scutellars 9 in single row. Antepronotal lobes bearing 3 setae.
Wing (Fig. 2C). Brachiolum with 1 seta. Squama with 9 setae. R with 8 setae, R 1 with 8 setae, other veins bare. Costa extension 86 μm long. Anal lobe rounded. Microtrichia only visible at> 1000 x magnification.
Legs. Foreleg and hind tarsus missing. Hind and mid femurs with keel. Pulvilli developed. Mid tibia spurs 17 and 14 μm long, hind tibia spurs 32 and 14 μm long, hind tibia comb with around 8 spines. Lengths and proportions of legs as in Table 2.
Abdominal tergite setation (Fig. 2D). Tergite I with 4 lateral setae, anterior basal setae, and posterior marginal setae arranged in 4 diagonal rows in 2/1/1/4 format. Tergites II–VIII with 3 lateral setae. Tergites II–VIII with anterior basal setae, and posterior marginal setae in two parallel rows.
Genitalia (Fig. 2E–F). Seminal capsules small, oval-shaped, 60 and 67 µm long, 41 and 38 µm wide; the spermathecal duct not visible in this specimen. Notum 90 µm long, notum and ramus 154 µm long. Gonapophysis VIII divided into larger ventrolateral covering a narrower dorsomesal lobes (Fig. 2E). Apodeme lobe visible, triangular (Fig. 2E). Gonocoxite well-attached to tergite IX with only 1 seta (Fig. 2F). Tergite IX undivided, bearing 8 setae (Fig. 2F). Cercus pediform 84 µm long and 44 µm wide.
Immatures. Unknown.
Distribution. Palearctic: Germany, Norway.
description: Published as part of Namayandeh, Armin & Ghaderi, Edris, 2025, A review of Paracricotopus (Brundin, 1947), with the description of two new species and redescription of the adult males of Paracricotopus niger (Kieffer, 1913) and Paracricotopus uliginosus (Brundin, 1947) sensu Saether (1980) (Chironomidae: Diptera), pp. 138-158 in Zootaxa 5569 (1) on pages 140-142, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5569.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/14703998