Bathycranium : Synonymised with Syntormon, Distinction Between Parasyntormon and Syntormon Discussed and S
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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Center for Systematic Entomology, Gainesville, Insecta Mundi Florida September 1995 Bathycranium : synonymised with Syntormon, distinction between Parasyntormon and Syntormon discussed and S. bicolorellus and S. luteicornis (Diptera : Dolichopodidae) redescribed M. C. D. Speight National Parks and Wildlife Service, Dublin, Ireland R. M. Blackith Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland R. E. Blackith Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi Part of the Entomology Commons Speight, M. C. D.; Blackith, R. M.; and Blackith, R. E., "Bathycranium : synonymised with Syntormon, distinction between Parasyntormon and Syntormon discussed and S. bicolorellus and S. luteicornis (Diptera : Dolichopodidae) redescribed" (1995). Insecta Mundi. 165. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi/165 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Systematic Entomology, Gainesville, Florida at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Insecta Mundi by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. INSECTA MUNDI, Vol. 9, No. 3-4, September - December, 1995 351 Bathycranium :synonymised with Syntormon, distinction between Parasyntormon and Syntormon discussed and S. bicolorellus and S. luteicornis (Diptera :Dolichopodidae) redescribed M. C. D. Speight Research Branch National Parks and Wildlife Service 51, St Stephen's Green, Dublin-2, Ireland and R. M. Blackith and R. E. Blackith Zoology Department, Trinity College, Dublin-2, Ireland Abstract: It is demonstrated that there is no valid basis on which to sustain the monotypic genus Bathycranium Strobl and concluded that Bathycranium should be recognised as a junior synonym of Syntormon hew (new status). The species Syntormon bicolorellus Zetterstedt (new combination) falls into a natural grouping of Syntormon species with downcurved facial hairs in females. This species and S. luteicornis Parent are redescribed. Distinctions between Syntormon and Parasyntormon are discussed. Sommaire: Aucune base valable ne soutient le genre Bathycranium Strobl et ilen ressort que Bathycranium doit Btre reconnu comme synonym junior de Syntormon hew (n. stat.). L'espGce Syntormon bicolorellus Zetterstedt (n. comb) appartient A un groupement nature1 d'espdces de Syntormon munies de soies faciales pendantes chez les femelles. Cette espdce, ainsi que S. luteicornis Parent, sont redecrites. Les distinctions entre Syntormon et Parasyntormon sont passees en revue. Introduction The Palaearctic genus Bathycrartiurn was estab- lished by Strobl (1892) for the species Dolichopus The cosmopolitan genus Syntormon was estab- bicolorellus Zetterstedt,l843. As indicated by.Ne- lished by Loew (1857) based on European species. grobov (1991) Zetterstedt's species bicolorellus be- Wheeler (1899) erected the genus Parasyntormon comes the type species of Bathycranium, by monoty- for various Nearctic species described by him in py. We have re-examined the original material of that paper, plus the Nearctic Sympycnus occiden- bicolorellus Zetterstedt,l843, redescribed this spe- talis Aldrich,1894. Subsequently, Coquillett (1910) cies and designated a lectotype. Here we present the designated the European species S. metathesis case for including the genus Bathycranium under (Loew) as the type species of Syntormon and the Syntormon. We note in passing that there has been Nearctic P. asellus Wheeler as the type species of confusion over the gender of Syntormon; it is mascu- Parasyntormon. line. Outside the Nearctic, no species seem, as We have discovered that there is potential for yet,to have been assigned to Parasyntormon. Ex- confusion between Zetterstedt's bicolorellus and amination of European Syntormon species demon- Syntormon luteicornis of Parent, 1927. To estab- strates that many of them possess a mixture of lish the placement of S. luteicornis unequivocally, Parasyntormon and Syntormon features, as used we herein redescribe the type material of this by Wheeler and later North American authors to obscure species. characterise these genera. If these genera are to be maintained, a certain amount of redefinition is Bathycranium and Syntormon needed. Here we discuss the available morpholog- ical evidence in this context. Strobl(1892) provides no clear statement of the characters he considers diagnostic of Bathycranium, 352 Volume 9, nos. 3-4, September-December, 1995, INSECTA MUNDI but does mention those he regards as separating B. tormon species on the basis of an absence of the bicolorellum from other species, as follows :- thumb-shaped interdigitation of the second anten- 1. Arista subapical. nal segment into the third are seriously mislead- 2. Antennae largely yellow. ing. 3. Eyes close together. 3. From our abundant material it is clear that, 4. Frons deeply inset, metallic. in both male and female bicolorellus, the first 5. Acrosticals uniserial. tarsomere of the hind leg is subequal to the second, 6. Legs almost entirely yellow. but the third segment is nearly a third shorter 7. Male legs simple. (Fig.13) so that Strobl's description of this charac- 8. Hypopygium concealed. ter is incorrect. In the more lengthy redescription he provides 4. Differences between bicolorellus and Syntor- of B. bicolorellum he mentions additional charac- mon listed by subsequent authors are unreliable to ters which bear on the relationship between Bathy- the extent that they are based on characters men- cranium and Syntormon: tioned by Strobl (1892). 9. Antennal segment 1 (scape) setose on dorsal None of the other characters mentioned by surface. Strobl may reasonably be used to separate bicol- 10. Antennal segment 2 (pedicel) convex distally, orellus from Syntormon without substantially but not with a thumb-shaped projection. altering the current concept of Syntormon. For 11. Basal three tarsomeres of hind leg equal in instance, in different Syntormon species the arista length. may be inserted sub-apically, apically, or dorsally Of these, characters 4, 10 and 11 might be (Table 1). The colour of the antennae in bicolorellus construed as separating Bathycranium from Syn- provides no distinction from Syntormon, since tormon, and characters 4 and 10 have been used for there are atleast two other Syntormon species with this purpose by later authors. However, it is appar- yellow antennae, S. luteicornis in the Palaearctic ent that Strobl had only one male specimen of a (Negrobov, 1975) and S. simplicitarsis Van Duzee species he identified as bicolorellus available to (1925) in the Nearctic (Tables 1 and 2). At least one him. We have not seen this specimen but we have European species, S. rufipes Meigen, has virtually been able to examine not only Zetterstedt's type unmodified legs in the male; leg modifications ex- series of Dolichopus bicolorellus but also hundreds hibited by males currently in Syntormon are so of males and females of this species collected in varied that if they were to be used in defining alcohol by Malaise traps atdifferent Irish localities. genera, it would become necessary to question the From this extensive material we conclude : inclusion of many species in addition to bicolorellus 1. The concave frons observed by Strobl was an within the genus Syntormon. artefact, probably due to dependence on a single In the single apparent difference between Syn- dry specimen. Neither males nor females of bicol- tormon and Parasyntormon , bicolorellus shows orellus exhibit a condition of the frons noticeably the Syntormon condition (see below). We conclude different from that of Syntormon metathesis, when that Dolichopus bicolorellus of Zetterstedt should freshly collected specimens or alcohol-preserved be regarded as a species of Syntormon and that material are examined. since Bathycranium has only this species consigned 2. In bicolorellus the interdigitation of the sec- to it, Bathycranium should be regarded as a syn- ond antennalsegment into the third (first flagellom- onym of Syntormon. These conclusions stand wheth- ere) is as great as, or greater than, in many Syntor- er or not Strobl's specimen belonged to bicolorel- mon or Parasyntormon species. It is illustrated lus of Zetterstedt. here from alcohol-preserved specimens (Figs 1, 2). An extreme example of a short interdigitation, Parasyntormon and Syntormon which was described as "thumb-shaped", is provid- ed by S. palmaris Loew (1857) and figured by Van In his description of his new genus Parasyntor- Duzee (1925). There is some intra-specific variation mon, Wheeler (1899) gives the following charac- in this feature in bicolorellus and it is certainly ters:- more difficult to interpret in dried specimens. We 1. Male face narrow. conclude that Strobl was once again misled by the 2. Antennae inserted high on head. condition of the limited material at his disposal. 3. Antennal segment 1 bare dorsally. Keys purporting to separate bicolorellus from Syn- INSECTA MUNDI, Vol. 9, No. 3-4, September - December, 1995 353 4. Antennal segment 2 with a thumb-shapedprojec- tormon species, with the results summarised in tion into segment 3, internally (projection shorter in Tables 1to 3. female). Essentially, the mesopleural hair patches (A and 5. Antennal segment 3 large, flattened, of vari- B in Figure 9) are rather variable, but the metapleu- able shape, distinctly pilose (hardly longer than ral hair patch (C) is consistently present in both the broad