Procladius fimbriatus Wulker 1959
Creators: name: Brodin, Yngve
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Chironomidae
Procladius
Procladius fimbriatus

description: Procladius fimbriatus Wülker, 1959
Procladius fimbriatus Wülker, 1959 — Wülker (1959), Finland, adult male, adult female, pupa, description, illustrations. Procladius fimbriatus Wülker, 1959 — Langton & Visser (2003), Finland, pupa, illustration.
Procladius fimbriatus Wülker, 1959 — Langton et al. (2013), Norway, pupa, key, illustration.
Material examined (n = 8). FINLAND, 1 adult male (Holotype of P. fimbriatus, ZSMG), Lake Saanajärvi, 69.05°N 20.88°E, 679 m a.s.l., ‒4 °C m.a.t., viii.1956, leg. W. Wülker; 1 adult male (Paratype of P. fimbriatus, ZSMG), Lake Saanajärvi, 69.05°N 20.88°E, 679 m a.s.l., ‒4 °C m.a.t., viii.1956, leg. W. Wülker; 1 adult male (MZHF), Lake Ala-Kilpisjärvi, 68.95°N 20.92°E, 473 m a.s.l., ‒2 °C m.a.t., 25.viii.1983, leg. J. Tuiskunen; 2 adult males, Lake Kilpsiärvi, Saana, 69.02°N 20.84°E, 491 m a.s.l., ‒2 °C m.a.t., 16.vii‒24.viii.2007.— SWEDEN, 1 adult male (ZSMG), Abisko district, lake at stream draining, 68.3°N 18.8°E, 410 m a.s.l., ‒1 °C m.a.t., 26.vi.1958, leg. D. R. Oliver; 2 adult males (NHRS), Lake Sitasjaure, 67.87°N 17.61°E, 613 m a.s.l., ‒3 °C m.a.t., 7.viii.1992, leg. Y. Brodin.
Diagnostic characters. Figs. 20, 47‒49, key couplet 2. The female-like male antenna with its low antennal ratio (AR) and reduced plume separates P. fimbriatus from all other known species of Procladius. The species can readily be separated also from other species of Procladius in Europe and North America by several additional characters although the gonostylus process GspR overlaps that of six other species of Procladius present in Europe.
Absence of any signs of parasitism, e.g. by nematodes, in the body of all eight studied specimens suggest that P. fimbriatus is a valid species and not an intersex which also may have female-like antenna but normal male genitalia (Wülker 1959; Aagaard 1974). Wülker, who first described P. fimbriatus, was a specialist in parsitism in Chironomidae.
The adult female and pupal exuvia have been described. The larva is not known. No barcoded specimens are known.
Geographical distribution and ecology. All findings of P. fimbriatus are from northern regions of Norway, Sweden and Finland, at 68‒ 70°N and altitude 150‒680 m above sea level. All six sites with findings of adults are above the tree limit in the taiga with a subarctic climate of +1 to ‒4 °C mean annual temperature and ice cover on lakes for 7‒10 months annually.
Pupal exuviae and adults of P. fimbriatus have been found in or close to ultraoligotrophic or oligotrophic clearwater lakes and tarns without or with very sparse vegetation. One finding is close to a stream. Adults have been found from mid-June to late August. Larvae and larval habitats are unknown.
Countries with records of P. fimbriatus in Europe are Finland, Norway and Sweden.
References. Langton & Visser 2003; Langton et al. 2013; Paasivirta 2012; Sorvari et al. 2000; Tuiskunen & Lindeberg 1986; Wülker 1959.
description: Published as part of Brodin, Yngve, 2025, Procladius (Diptera, Chironomidae) of Europe and a global view, pp. 1-127 in Zootaxa 5591 (1) on pages 60-61, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5591.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14953783