Chalarus saxonicus Kehlmaier, spec. nov.
Creators: name: Kehlmaier, Christian
name: Assmann, Thorsten
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2008
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Pipunculidae
Chalarus
Chalarus saxonicus

description: Chalarus saxonicus Kehlmaier spec. nov.
(Figs 20, 27, 33, 54–55, 78)
Type material: Germany: Saxony, Dresden, Dresdner Heide, Prießnitztal, 13°46'E 51°05'N, 160m, handnet: 1ɗ (holotype), 21. VI.2005, DNA CK 335, Kehlmaier (MTD); 1Ψ (allotype), 26.VI.2006, DNA CK 251, Kehlmaier (MTD); 1ɗ, 21. VI.2005, DNA CK 57, Kehlmaier (MTD); 1Ψ, 23. VI.2005, DNA CK 30, Kehlmaier (MTD); Spain: Navarra, Finca de Artikutza, 1°44’W 43°15’N, 600m, Fagus sylvatica forest: 2Ψ, 11.– 24.VII.1995, Malaise trap H3, Martínez de Murguia (PCCK).
Etymology: The epithet refers to the locus typicus being situated in the German Federal State of Saxony.
Differential diagnosis: Because of the limited number of specimens known, the distinction of male Chalarus saxonicus from other taxa with similar genital features based on morphological evidence alone has to be regarded as provisional. It differs from C. griseus in the shape of the inner gonopod (compare Figs 27–28) and the light brown apical hairs of aasr. It differs from males of C. exiguus, C. holosericeus and C. zyginae in that it has white pvsr and light brown apical hairs of aasr, whereas in others these are dark brown. Compared to C. zyginae, it also has slightly shorter phallic processes (compare Figs 9–10) and a generally larger body size. Female C. saxonicus has a narrow frons (Fig. 78), greatly enlarged ommatidial facets at the front, short pulvilli, and a long and thin ovipositor (Figs 54–55) with tergite 9 gently but distinctly curved. It also differs from some species, e.g. C. proprius, in that it has almost entirely whitish hairs on psr, pvsr and aasr. See Table 1 for coxI and ITS2 barcode sequence accession numbers.
Male: Body length. 2.8mm. Head. Face black, silver-grey pollinose. Labellum and palps light brown, the latter with 2 distal hairs on each. Eyes separated, ommatidial facets slightly enlarged towards the front. Frons black, silver-grey pollinose in lower quarter. At its narrowest point, width of 2 accompanying ommatidial facets. Antenna dark brown. Pedicel with 4 short upper and 3 lower bristles, two of the latter longer than flagellum which is of an ovoid-kidney shape and is slightly longer than wide. Vertex black. Ocellar triangle with 1 pair of long and 2 pairs of short ocellar bristles. Occiput black, hardly visible in lateral view. Thorax. Entirely dark brown to black. Dorsal surface of prescutum and scutum covered with rather widely spaced black hairs, as in other species of the genus, the longest ones towards the lateral and posterior margins (notopleural, supraalar and postalar bristles). Scutellum with 2 pairs of long black marginal bristles, dorsally with 2 pairs of short hairs. Pleura bare except anepimeron with 4 hairs. Wing and halter. Length: 2.9mm. LW:MWW=2.9. Wing surface with a weak brownish tinge and covered with microtrichia except near base. Pterostigma brown and incomplete (LS:LTC=0.8). LSC:LTC:LFC=7.6:6.2:1.0. Wing venation incomplete, as in other members of Chalarus. Halter dark brown with stem narrowly white. Leg. Entirely dark brown except tibia midventrally and tarsal segments slightly paler (mid brown). psr ~14 hairs, mid brown; pvsr ~19 whitish hairs, apical one greatly extending beyond apex; aasr ~9 hairs, 6 distal ones long and light brown others short and dark brown, apical ones extending as far as apex; pdsr ~7 dark brown hairs, apical ones extending as far as apex and ppsr ~3 dark brown hairs. Pulvilli shorter than distitarsus. Abdomen. Gently ovate in dorsal view, LT35:WT2=1.0.
Entirely dark brown. Hairs mid to dark brown. Dorsally and ventrally sparse and short, long and dense along lateral margins. Genitalia. Surstyli symmetrical, with pronounced medial protuberances, best seen in dorsal view (Fig. 33). Gonopods symmetrical, broadened in distal half (Fig. 27). Phallus as in Fig. 10, with straight shaft. Tip of distiphallus short and broad. Lmtdp:Ltdp slightly more than 3.0. Phallic processes symmetrical, slightly shorter than membranous tip of distiphallus and parallel to the latter. All three ejaculatory ducts placed distally on membranous tip of distiphallus. Ejaculatory apodeme parasol-shaped (Fig. 20).
Female differs from male in the following — Body length app. 2.2mm. Wing length: 2.5mm. LSC:LTC:LFC=6.8:5.8:1.0. LS:LTC=0.7. Bristles of pedicel shorter; none longer than flagellum. Frontal facets greatly enlarged (0.04mm). Frons at narrowest point slightly less than 2 times largest facet (Fig. 78). Frons with pairs of fronto-orbital setae. psr also whitish. Tergites 2–5 laterally with shorter hairs. Ovipositor rather long. In lateral view (Fig. 55), piercer twice length of base, with tergite 9 thin and gently but distinctly curved. In dorsal view (Fig. 54), base (tergite 7) ovate, weakly greyish pollinose.
Annotations: Of CK30 and CK57 only the terminalia remain. The holotype was punctured on one pleural side for DNA extraction but otherwise stayed intact. It is currently preserved in ethanol. In Kehlmaier (2003), 2 females belonging to this new taxon were erroneously recorded as C. proprius and are in the first author’s collection. A third female from Artikutza identified as C. proprius was deposited at KBIN but could not be obtained for this study.
description: Published as part of Kehlmaier, Christian & Assmann, Thorsten, 2008, The European species of Chalarus Walker, 1834 revisited (Diptera: Pipunculidae), pp. 1-39 in Zootaxa 1936 on pages 12-16, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.184950