Molophilus (Molophilus) testaceus Lackschewitz 1940
Creators: name: Starý, Jaroslav
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Limoniidae
Molophilus
Molophilus testaceus

description: Molophilus (Molophilus) testaceus Lackschewitz, 1940 stat. n.
Figures 30–32
Molophilus bifilatus var. testacea Lackschewitz, 1940a: 22 (diagnosis).
Diagnosis. Medium-sized species within Molophilus. Body generally pale brown, patterned with yellow and darker brown, locally suffused with greyish pruinosity. Gonocoxite of male terminalia with thumb-like dorsal lobe and triangular lateral lobe. Outer (dorsal) gonostylus shorter than inner (ventral) gonostylus, generally hook-shaped, curved mesally, pointed at tip. Inner gonostylus undulate, subacute at apex, with indistinct serrrate flanges. Wing length 5.0–5.4 mm.
Redescription. Male. Head. Antenna of moderate length, slightly extending beyond wing base. Basal segments brown. Flagellomeres dark brown, generally ovoid, with verticils slightly exceeding length of their respective segments.
Thorax generally pale brown, patterned with yellow and darker brown, locally suffused with greyish pruinosity. Prescutum and scutum greyish brown, bordered with yellow laterally on paratergite and around prescutal pit; scutal lobe yellowed anteromedially and posterolaterally. Scutellum mostly yellow, brown laterally. Postscutellum brown, yellowed laterally. Pleuron pale brown, with darker brown patch, or longitudinal stripe, on anepisternum, fading out posteriorly on anepimeron; this stripe surrounded with yellow markings on dorsopleural membrane, basalare and dorsal part of katepisternum. Wing membrane tinged with yellowish brown; venation generally as for genus. Stem of halter dark yellow, knob pale yellow. Legs yellow to yellowish brown, tips of femora and tibiae and entire tarsi darkened.
Abdomen brown. Male terminalia (Figs 30–32) yellowish brown. Dorsal portion of gonocoxite of moderate length, with conspicuous, long, thumb-like dorsal lobe and triangular lateral lobe; tip of the latter reaching to about half length of the former. Lateral excision wide and shallow. Ventral lobe of gonocoxite slender and long, drawn out into long point, slightly extending beyond apex of dorsal lobe. Both gonostyli darkly pigmented. Outer gonostylus much shorter than inner one, hook-shaped, curved mesally and pointed at tip, reaching just beyond base of inner gonostylus. The latter long, powerful, exceeding tip of ventral lobe by about half of its length, flattened, curved at base, then undulate, with subacute tip slightly upturned and with indistinct, pale, serrate flanges on both sides along mid-length. Aedeagus long and slender, almost straight or slightly undulate in lateral view. Aedeagal plate moderate in size, generally short-oval in ventral/ventrocaudal aspect, without any spines or teeth.
Female resembling male in general appearance.
Type material examined. Lackschewitz (1940a: 23) based his “ var. testacea “ of M. bifilatus (= griseus) on the following material: “ Spanien, Aragonien, Albarracin, 22.–30. VI.1924, 3 (Zerny)”. The single sex symbol without a numeral was used by Lackschewitz (1940a & b) to indicate a single specimen (see also Starý 2007: 26). Holotype 3: Spain, Aragón, Albarracin, 22.–30.vi.1924 (H. Zerny leg.) (NHMW), labelled “Aragon Albarracin / 22.–30.VI ’24 Zerny” (printed), “ Molophilus bifilatus / var. Verr. / det. Lacksch.” (printed, white, with “var.” handwritten). The name testacea was not given on the identification label by Lackschewitz, yet other circumstances clearly indicate that this is the specimen in question. Labelled as holotype by the present author (“ HOLOTYPE / Molophilus / testaceus Lacksch. stat. n. 3 / J. Starý 2010”; printed red label). The specimen is pinned, with only right hind leg and abdomen missing. Terminalia mounted by Lackschewitz in Canada balsam between celluloid slides, pinned with the specimen.
Other material examined (49 3, 8 Ƥ): Portugal: Algarve: Vila do Bispo, 4 km NE, Lagoa Funda (126 m), marsh, 30.iv.2010, 5 3, 4 Ƥ, 3.v.2010, 6 3, 1 Ƥ [1 3+Ƥ in copula]; Monte Ruivo, 2 km E (nr. Poldra Mt.) (180 m), marsh, 3.v.2010, 1 3; Serra de Monchique Mts, Foia Mt. (780–870 m), springs & marshes, 2.v.2010, 1 3; Rasmalho, 1–2.5 km N, Boina River & tributary (50–75 m), 28.iv.2010, 1 3, 29.iv.2010, 1 3, 2.v.2010, 4 3; Porto de Lagos, 1.5 km NW, Boina River (25 m), 29.iv.2010, 1 3 (all J. Starý leg); Ladeira do Vau, 2 km N, Boina River (25 m), river shores, 27.iv.2010, 2 3, 1 Ƥ (J. Roháček leg.); Tavira, 3 km N, Rio Ségua valley (24 m), drainages, 1.iv.2009, 1 3, 1 Ƥ; Azinhal env., Barreiros, 1 km S, Beliche River (75 m), 2.iv.2009, 3 3; Monte Gordo, 1 km N (13 m), saltmarsh, 4.iv.2009, 1 3 (all J. Starý leg.) (all JSO). Spain: Andalucía: Ronda, Rio Grande, 5.iv.2005, 1 3; Coin, Rio Seco, 30.iii.2005, 1 3, 7.iv.2005, 3 3; Casapalma, confluence of Rio Grande and Rio Guadalhorce, 1.iv.2005, 8 3; Cártama, Rio Guadalhorce, 31.iii.2005, 1 3, 1 Ƥ, 1.iv.2005, 5 3; El Romeral (nr. Cártama), watercourse, 31.iii.2005, 2 3 (all J. Starý leg.); Sierra Nevada Mts, Trevélez (1,500 m), 15.viii.2006, 1 3 (M. Barták leg.) (all JSO).
Discussion. Lackschewitz (1940a) established this species as “ var. testacea n. var. ” of M. bifilatus Verrall, 1886 [= M. griseus (Meigen, 1804)]. He (Lackschewitz 1940a: 22) described the difference in the shape of the inner gonostylus between his variety and M. (M.) griseus, but apparently did not consider the character important at the species level. The name testacea is subspecific in terms of Article 45.6.4. of ICZN (1999), and the taxon is here raised to species rank.
Both in general appearance and the structure of the male terminalia, M. (M.) testaceus much resembles M. (M.) griseus. It differs from the latter by various details of the male terminalia, such as overall shape of the gonocoxite (more slender in testaceus), the size of the dorsal lobe (somewhat smaller in testaceus), the length of the aedeagus (shorter in testaceus), and especially by the shape of the inner gonostylus, which, in M. (M.) griseus, is extremely powerful, with distinct, pale flanges on both margins along mid-length, whereas, in M. (M.) testaceus, it is shorter and more slender, with flanges that are not very distinct (cf. Figs 30–32 and 33). Similarly, M. (M.) testaceus seems to be closely related to M. (M.) subgriseus Savchenko, 1976, from Azerbaijan. In the latter species, however, the lateral lobe of the gonocoxite is elongate, darkly pigmented at tip and the inner gonostylus is strongly bent at base, directed ventrally (cf. Savchenko 1976, Fig. 7). M. (M.) testaceus and M. (M.) griseus also slightly differ in the body colouration. Whereas the latter has rather an ochre cast, the former tends to be yellowish brown to pale brown. This makes M. (M.) testaceus appear brighter.
Distribution. Spain. First records for Portugal. If Lackschewitz’s (1940a) M. bifilatus var. testacea is the only record for M. (M.) griseus from the continental Spain in the recent checklist (Eiroa & Báez 2002), then the latter species should be excluded from the list. On the other hand, the record of M. (M.) griseus from the Canary Islands (Eiroa & Báez 2002) seems to be correct based on the figure by de Jong (1987, Fig. 29).
description: Published as part of Starý, Jaroslav, 2011, Descriptions and records of the Palaearctic Molophilus Curtis (Diptera, Limoniidae), pp. 45-62 in Zootaxa 2999 on pages 57-58, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.203285