Spilogona wrangeli Hennig 1959
Creators: name: Sorokina, Vera S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Muscidae
Spilogona
Spilogona wrangeli

description: Spilogona wrangeli Hennig, 1959
Figs 6 E, F
Spilogona wrangeli Hennig, 1959: 360. Type-locality: “O-w Wrangelja, werch. r. Klen k SSW ot pika Berri, 19.–21.VIII. 38 g. Gekker” [RUSSIA, Far East, Wrangelya I., upper Klen river SSW of Mt. Berry] [seen].
Spilogona coactilis Huckett, 1965: 214. Type-locality: “ Herschel Island, Yukon Territory, 7.11.53 [i.e. 11.vii.1953], J.S. Waterhouse)” [CANADA, Yukon] [seen]. Syn. nov.
Spilogona malaisei (Ringdahl, 1920); Sorokina & Khruleva 2012: 556 (Wrangel Island). Misidentification.
Spilogona wrangeli Hennig, 1959; Sorokina & Thidrikh, 2021: 229 (Wrangel Island).
Notes. The holotypes of Spilogona coactilis (in Canadian National Collection) and Spilogona wrangeli (in ZISP) were examined. Both species had been described from arctic Islands, Wrangel Island and Herschel Island, and had not since been found in other localities. Spilogona coactilis is known only from the holotype and one additional male. A series of Spilogona wrangeli has been found recently on Wrangel Island (Sorokina & Thidrikh, 2021). The descriptions and the male terminalia are the same for both species. The exception was a v seta on the mid tibia, which Huckett described for Spilogona coactilis; Spilogona wrangeli is without a v seta on the mid tibia. I examined the holotype of Spilogona coactilis. The specimen is a little crumpled, legs pressed against the thorax, one mid tibia in glue; with difficulty I was able to see that the mid tibia is in fact without v setae. Males of these species are small in size (3.5–4 mm), facial edge often a little projecting beyond level of profrons, but sometimes not, subovate abdomen, blackish thorax without stripes, anepisternum without interspatial setae, scutellum with downwardly-directed preapical setulae on upper border of declivities, costa with spinules, mid tibia without v setae, hind femur with weak pv setae, and abdomen dark with indistinct black expansive marks.
I therefore conclude that Spilogona coactilis Huckett, 1965 is a new junior synonym of Spilogona wrangeli Hennig, 1959.
The female of both Spilogona coactilis and Spilogona wrangeli has been not described. It is very similar to Spilogona malaisei, like the male, and both can be separated as in following couplet:
1 Costa without spinules, with short setae............................................................ S. malaisei
- Costa with spinules........................................................................... S. wrangeli
Distribution. PALAEARCTIC: Russia (Wrangel Island). NEARCTIC: Yukon (Herschel Island).
DNA barcode. BOLD BIN: BOLD:AED9512. See Table 1 for GenBank accession numbers.
Remarks. Spilogona wrangeli is morphologically very similar to Spilogona malaisei, especially females. But based on DNA barcodes, these species are genetically different; the p-distance between them is 2.04–2.15%.
description: Published as part of Sorokina, Vera S., 2025, New taxonomic notes on the genus Spilogona Schnabl, 1911 (Diptera: Muscidae) in Arctic Russia, with the description of three new species, pp. 1-25 in Zootaxa 5584 (1) on page 23, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5584.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14812232