Simulium (Freemanellum) Crosskey 1969
Creators: name: Molina, Óscar S.
name: Gil-Azevedo, Leonardo H.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Simuliidae
Simulium

description: Simulium (Freemanellum) Crosskey, 1969
Figs 5, 18, 24, 38, 55–56, 76–77, 95–97, 109, 119–120, 132–135, 152
Freemanellum Crosskey, 1969: 92, figs 91, 110–112, 131, 147, 163, 205–206, 254 (as subgenus). Type species: Simulium berghei Fain, 1949.
Species
Simulium berghei Fain, 1949
S. debegene De-Meillon, 1934
S. empopomae De-Meillon, 1937
S. hessei Gibbins, 1941
S. hirsutilateris De-Meillon, 1937
S. manense Elsen & Escaffre, 1976
S. spinulicorne Fain & Elsen, 1980
Diagnosis
Female
Scutum red to light brown; scutal pattern present (Fig. 5). Cibarium unpigmented anteromedially and unarmed. Tarsal claw with subbasal tooth of about half of claw length. Hypoginial valves subtriangular, shorter than sternite VIII width, forwardly directed (Fig. 18). Anal lobe rectangular, longer than cercus width (Fig. 24).
Male
Ventral plate two times wider than longer, not notched, without lateral shoulders or posteromedial process (Fig. 38). Gonocoxite of equal length and width, with base almost equal in width than gonostylus width at their point of intersection (Figs 55–56). Gonostylus cylindrical with medial region equal in width than basal region, distinctly longer than gonocoxite, with blunt apex and apical spinule (Figs 55–56). Parameres with both, large and small accessory spines.
Pupa
Cocoon aperture upward directed, separated from substratum and not corbicular (Figs 76–77). Gill shorter than pupal body with trunk very reduced and with base enclosed by cocoon anterior margin (Figs 95–97); with four filaments arranged in different planes (tridimensional); filaments flexible, cylindrical, and with blunt apices concolorous with rest of gill; inferior branch single (Figs 95–97). Thoracic trichomes simples.
Larva (last instar)
Cephalic apotome spots insertion area pigmented (Figs 119–120). Postocciput extended over the cervical sclerites. Labral fan stalk shorter than antenna, but longer than antennomeres 1+2. Antenna without secondary annulations. Mandibles with preapical teeth as long as apical tooth; supernumerary mandibular serrations of different sizes. Postgenal cleft rounded; postgenal bridge length nearly equal than hypostomal length (Figs 132–135). Hypostomal anterior margin straight; hypostomal teeth very reduced and extended below anterior margin of ventral wall of hypostoma (Fig. 152); lateral serrations well-developed, blunt; paralateral teeth present. Body surface glabrous. Abdomen gradually expanding posteroventrally to last segments, then abruptly contracting to posterior proleg (Fig. 152). Anal sclerite no encircling base of posterior proleg. Posterior portion of abdomen without sclerotized accessory plates. Without 1+1 ventral tubercles. Rectal papillae with three multi-branched lobes.
Remarks
Simulium (Freemanellum) was recovered as monophyletic and stable based on nine synapomorphies (Fig. 1, Table 2, node 16), one of them unique: pupal gill trunk reduced (35 (0), Figs 95–97). Simulium (Freemanellum) groups with S. (Trichodagmia) and S. (Hemicnetha) based on two synapomorphies (Fig. 1. Table 2, node 15), one of them unique: female anal lobe at least twice as long as cercus width at base twice as long as cercus width at base (13 (1), Figs 24, 26, 29–30), but with reversals in most species of the Orbitale species-group of S. (Trichodagmia) (e.g., Fig. 28).
Distribution
Simulium (Freemanellum) is distributed in the following countries of the Afrotropical Region: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
description: Published as part of Molina, Óscar S. & Gil-Azevedo, Leonardo H., 2021, Simulium (Trichodagmia) (Diptera, Simuliidae) phylogeny revisited: the Neotropical and Afrotropical connection, pp. 80-119 in European Journal of Taxonomy 773 on pages 109-110, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2021.773.1517, http://zenodo.org/record/5542069