Liogma mikado
Creators: name: Imada, Yume
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Cylindrotomidae
Liogma
Liogma mikado

description: LIOGMA MIKADO (ALEXANDER, 1919)
(FIGS 1D, 1F, 3D, 4C, D, 5D, 6D, 16A–C)
Life history: Liogma mikado is univoltine, having the adult stage in spring. This species markedly differs in habitat preference from other Liogma species, although it frequently co-occurs with L. serraticornis on a small geographic scale (within a range of a few metres). The larvae are most frequently found on arid moss tufts on rocks or on the ground, but also on decomposed tree trunks. The larvae are exposed on the surface of moss patches, unlike other species of Liogma (e.g. L. brevipecten and L. serraticornis), which sometimes bury deeply beneath the moss patches.
Mating and oviposition: Two adult females of L.mikado were observed during 13:00–16:10 on 19 May 2016, at Ikawa-touge (Shizuoka, Japan). The site was a forest floor with gentle slope facing a forest path toward a mountain pass. The males emerged before the females and waited beside the female pupae for the emergence of their mates. Mating took place mainly resting on the branches and leaves of the understory vegetation (Fig. 1D). When pairs are in copula, they readily take flight. The oviposition was observed once on the same day. One female flit about the tufts of mosses and lay an egg on a branch leaf of Hylocomnium splendens (Hedw.) Schimp. (Hylocomniaceae) (Fig. 1F).
Egg: Length 0.74 mm (N = 1). Nearly black in colour (Fig. 1F). Spindle-shaped, circular in cross-section, with a tapered front pole (Fig. 2F). Chorionic surface nearly black without noticeable wrinkles; sculptures unexamined.
First-instar larva: Length 1.3 mm (N = 2). Body hyaline (Fig. 16B). Dorsal elongated cuticular lobes on thoracic and abdominal segments simple and stout.
Final-instar larva: Length 8–10 mm (N = 3). Body colour polymorphic, with light green (Fig. 4C) or brown hue (Fig. 4D); dark pigmentation making a narrow band, appearing as an oblique line in lateral view, from mesothoracic through abdominal segment VII; also, tips of small lobes tinged, including lobes on thoracic segments, first and second pairs and auxiliary outgrowths (particularly, second and third teeth) of third and fourth pairs of lobes on abdominal segments II–VII (Fig. 16A). Integument slightly tinged yellow (Fig. 4A), surface smooth. Prothorax dorsally with two, conical pairs of lobes on pronotal ridge with sharply pointed apices, posterior pairs longer than anterior pairs; two pairs of lateral lobes, papilla-like. Meso- and metathoracic segments with two pairs of dorsal lobes, each with two conical auxilliary outgrowths at the front; two pairs of lateral lobes, anterior pair longer than posterior pair; one pair of ventral lobes, papillalike (Fig. 5D). Dorsal elongated lobes on abdominal segments generally short, longest lobe shorter than body width in ventrolateral view (Fig. 6D); segment I with two pairs: anterior pair conical, with two tiny teeth-shaped auxiliary outgrowths at the front; posterior pair long, with three teeth-shaped outgrowths at the front; segments II–VII with four pairs of lobes, anterior two pairs conical and simple, third pair with two teeth at the front and fourth pair with three teeth near the base at the front; apices of teeth-like auxiliary outgrowths obtuse and tuberculate when dried, sharply pointed when wet. Lateral lobes on abdominal segments with sharply pointed apices; segment I with three pairs, posterior two pairs longer than anteriormost pair; segments II–VII with four pairs, middle two pairs longer than others. Ventral lobes on abdominal segments small, rounded or conical. Anal segment with one pair of dorsal lobes, long; one pair of dorsomedial lobes, short and conical; lateral lobes papilla-like; two pairs of ventral lobes, anterior pair papilla-like. Spiracular field with hair fringe.
Host-plants: The host-plant range of this species varies considerably among populations. Typically, the larvae are found and reared on some species of Thuidium (Hypnales: Thuidiaceae), such as T. tamariscinum (Hedw.) Schimper, T. kanedae Sakurai, T. delicatulum (Hedw.) Schimp., T. cymbifolium (Dozy & Molk.) Dozy & Molk. and T. pristocalyx (Müll. Hall.) Jaeger. In some populations, the larvae feed on Eurhynchium savatieri Schimp. ex Besch. (Hypnales: Brachytheciaceae), Hylocomiopsis ovicarpa (Besch.) Card. (Hypnales: Leskeaceae), Ctenidium capillifolium Brotherus, Hylocomnium splendens (Hypnales: Hylocomniaceae), Hypnum oldhamii Jaeger (Hypnales: Hypnaceae), Thamnobryum sp. (Hypnales: Neckeraceae), Plagiothecium euryphyllum (Card. & Thér.) Iwats. and Pseudotaxiphyllum pohliaecarpum (Sull. & Lesq.) Iwats. (Hypnales: Plagiotheciaceae) (Figs 4C, D, 16I). Under rearing conditions, the following moss species are also detected from the faecal pellets of larvae: Leucobryum neilgherrense Müll. Hal. (Dicranales: Dicranaceae) and Fauriella tenuis (Mitt.) Cardot (Hypnales: Theliaceae). Thus, L. mikado potentially uses a wide range of mosses belonging to Hypnales, although no larva has ever been obtained from Bryales. From the faecal pellets, the larval diet exclusively consists of moss species, even though some liverworts, including Cephalozia (Jungermanniales: Cephaloziaceae) and Calypogeia (Jungermanniales: Calypogeiaceae), commonly occurred in the larval habitat.
description: Published as part of Imada, Yume, 2021, Moss mimesis par excellence: integrating previous and new data on the life history and larval ecomorphology of long-bodied craneflies (Diptera: Cylindrotomidae: Cylindrotominae), pp. 1156-1204 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 193 on page 1181, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa177, http://zenodo.org/record/5752755