What´s new in the s.g. Meloehelea (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) of new world

TÓTHOVÁ, ANDREA; SPINELLI, GUSTAVO R.; MARINO, PABLO I.

Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapur

Congreso; 28th Annual Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society; 2009

The Willi Hennig Society

The subgenus Meloehelea Wirth includes ectoparasitic species that feed on the haemolymph of blister beetles (Coleoptera: Meloidae) and false blister beetles (Oedemeridae) (Borkent & Rocha-Filho 2006). Currently, there are 16 species in this subgenus that are known from non-Neotropical regions, 10 of which occur in the Palaearctic, three in the Nearctic, two in the Holarctic and one in the Afrotropical Region (Wirth 1980, Szadziewski & Borkent 2004). The Nearctic and Holarctic species of Meloehelea were treated by Wirth (1956, 1980). With regard to the Neotropical species, Borkent & Picado (2004) published a detailed study on the Atrichopogon species of Costa Rica, describing 18 new species based mainly on males with distinctive features on their genitalia, but they did not find any species that could readily be assigned to Meloehelea. The Holarctic species A. (M.) oedemerarum Storå was recently reported from Guatemala by Tóthová (2008). Spinelli & Wirth (1992) redescribed A. obnubilus Ingram & Macfie from Argentinean and Chilean Patagonia, a species bearing two spermathecae and with well-developed mandibular teeth. They placed the species in the subgenus Meloehelea, and recognized A. chilensis Ingram & Macfie and A. assimilis Ingram & Macfie as junior synonyms. This synonymy was accepted in several subsequent publications (Borkent & Wirth 1997; Borkent & Spinelli 2000, 2007; Spinelli et al. 2006), but a recent study of the types of the three species by one of us (GRS) in the Natural History Museum, London (BMNH) revealed that A. chilensis should be restored from synonymy. A new species of Ceratopogonidae Atrichopogon (Meloehelea) ladislavi Tóthová, is described. The Patagonian species Atrichopogon (M.) chilensis Ingram & Macfie is restored from synonymy, its female is redescribed and the male is described for the first time (Tóthová et al. 2009). This study was supported by the grant MSM No. 0021622416 of the Masaryk University, by the 6th Framework program “The mobility program of the Masaryk University”, and by the Darwin Initiative project “Capacity building for biodiversity studies of freshwater insects in Argentina”. Meloehelea Wirth includes ectoparasitic species that feed on the haemolymph of blister beetles (Coleoptera: Meloidae) and false blister beetles (Oedemeridae) (Borkent & Rocha-Filho 2006). Currently, there are 16 species in this subgenus that are known from non-Neotropical regions, 10 of which occur in the Palaearctic, three in the Nearctic, two in the Holarctic and one in the Afrotropical Region (Wirth 1980, Szadziewski & Borkent 2004). The Nearctic and Holarctic species of Meloehelea were treated by Wirth (1956, 1980). With regard to the Neotropical species, Borkent & Picado (2004) published a detailed study on the Atrichopogon species of Costa Rica, describing 18 new species based mainly on males with distinctive features on their genitalia, but they did not find any species that could readily be assigned to Meloehelea. The Holarctic species A. (M.) oedemerarum Storå was recently reported from Guatemala by Tóthová (2008). Spinelli & Wirth (1992) redescribed A. obnubilus Ingram & Macfie from Argentinean and Chilean Patagonia, a species bearing two spermathecae and with well-developed mandibular teeth. They placed the species in the subgenus Meloehelea, and recognized A. chilensis Ingram & Macfie and A. assimilis Ingram & Macfie as junior synonyms. This synonymy was accepted in several subsequent publications (Borkent & Wirth 1997; Borkent & Spinelli 2000, 2007; Spinelli et al. 2006), but a recent study of the types of the three species by one of us (GRS) in the Natural History Museum, London (BMNH) revealed that A. chilensis should be restored from synonymy. A new species of Ceratopogonidae Atrichopogon (Meloehelea) ladislavi Tóthová, is described. The Patagonian species Atrichopogon (M.) chilensis Ingram & Macfie is restored from synonymy, its female is redescribed and the male is described for the first time (Tóthová et al. 2009). This study was supported by the grant MSM No. 0021622416 of the Masaryk University, by the 6th Framework program “The mobility program of the Masaryk University”, and by the Darwin Initiative project “Capacity building for biodiversity studies of freshwater insects in Argentina”.