First record of Paraphaenocladius exagitans longipes Sæther & Wang 1995 (Diptera: Chironomidae: Orthocladiinae) from Brazil

SHORT COMMUNICATIONS

First record of Paraphaenocladius exagitans longipes Sæther & Wang 1995 (Diptera: Chironomidae: Orthocladiinae) from Brazil

H. F. Mendes^I; M.Andrade-Morraye^II,1

^IMuseum of Zoology, Department of Zoology, University of Bergen, N-5020 Bergen, Norway

^IIDepartamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva (DEBE), Universidade Federal de São Carlos, CP 676 São Carlos (SP), Brazil, CEP 13565-905. [e-mail]

ABSTRACT

Paraphaenocladius exagitans longipes Sæther & Wang, 1995, was collected in Southeastern Brazil for the first time, extending the geographical distribution of this subspecies.

Key words: Paraphaenocladius, Orthocladiinae, Chironomidae, Brazil, new record.

RESUMO

O registro de Paraphaenocladius exagitans longipes Sæther & Wang, 1995, no sudeste do Brazil amplia a distribuição geográfica desta subespécie.

Palavras-chave:Paraphaenocladius, Orthocladiinae, Chironomidae, Brazil, nova ocorrência.

INTRODUCTION

The genus Paraphaenocladius was described by Thienemann (in Spärck & Thienemann, 1924), and recently revised by Sæther & Wang (1995). The genus occurs in the Palaearctic, Afrotropic and Neotropic regions. The species Paraphaenocladius exagitans (Johannsen) is subdivided into three subspecies, P. exagitans s. str. from Nearctics; P. exagitans monticola Strenzke from Palaearctics and P. exagitans longipes Sæther & Wang from Neotropics; the latter was primarily described from Costa Rica.

Paraphaenocladius exagitans longipes Sæther & Wang is known, from Costa Rica, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala and possibly Bolivia (Sæther & Wang, 1995 and Spies & Reiss, 1996). According to Sæther & Wang (1995), Paraphaenocladius exagitans from Guatemala (Sublette & Sasa, 1994) is considered to belong to longipes subspecies.

The record of P. exagitans longipes from Southeastern Brazil extends the geographical distribution of the subspecies. Female, pupa and larva of were not previously described, however most of the characters fall within the variation of the nominal subspecies, which allowed us to make some notes on taxonomy of those life stages.

METHODS AND MATERIAL

The larvae were collected in a small spring with slow water flow, with mosses on the margins, and silt-fine sand bottom, near the banks of Rio Pardo (21º03'30"S and 47º50'W), in Jardinópolis city, São Paulo State, Brazil.

Rearing procedures followed Mendes (2002).

The material was mounted on slides in Euparal following Sæther (1969). The material is deposited in Zoology Museum, Bergen, Norway (ZMBN) and Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (MZUSP). Vera L. O. Andrade made the slide preparations.

NOTES ON TAXONOMY

Paraphaenocladius exagitans longipes Sæther & Wang, 1995.

Material examined: 2 males with larval and pupal skins and 1 female with larval and pupal skins: BRAZIL, São Paulo State, Jardinópolis, 07.IX.2002, Andrade, V. L. O. leg.;

Male imago. Subspecies described in detail by Sæther & Wang (1995).

Female imago. (n=1). All measurements fall within the variation of the nominal subspecies [P. exagitans s. str. (Johannsen, 1905)] with the following exceptions and additions: Total length 1.50 mm. Wing length 0.92 mm. Total length / length of wing 1.63. Vein R₄₊₅ with 23 setae. Anal lobe cell with more than 200 setae.

Pupa. (n=3). All measurements fall within the variation of the nominal subspecies [P. exagitans s. str. (Johannsen, 1905)], with the exceptions: Caudal spines on tergites VII and VIII, in the female and VIII in the male distinctly longer; female with 10 spines on VII, longest 11 µm and 8 spines on VIII, longest, 9 µm; male with 6-9 spines, longest 9 µm.

Larva. (n=3). All measurements fall within the variation of the nominal subspecies [P. exagitans s. str. (Johannsen, 1905)], except that two types of menta are accepted in the nominal species and only the type with single median tooth was observed (see Sæther & Wang, 1995:25 Fig. 9M).

NOTES ON HABITAT AND ECOLOGY:

The larvae were collected in a spring, dwelling in both terrestrial and semi-terrestrial environments, in accordance with Cranston et al (1989) and Sæther & Wang (1995). The larvae used fine-sand grains to build delicate tubes and also mined moss leaves.

The development from collection to the first pupa took about 20 days.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors were financially supported by FAPESP (98/05073-4; 99/11862-4; 01/04539-4; 00/05903-9 and 02/12180-9) within the BIOTA/FAPESP The Biodiversity Virtual Institute Program (http://www.biota.org.br ). We specially thank Dr. Claudio G. Froehlich for the advising and friendship while completing the studies in Chironomidae in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. Thanks are also due to the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Entomologia da FFCLRP-USP (CAPES-PROAP). The authors would like to thanks to Vera L. O. de Andrade for collecting, rearing and slide mounting. Thanks are also due to Mr Jarbas Cacezes and Ms. Simone K. Kioto for allowing sampling.

Recebido em 23/11/04.

Versão reformulada recebida em 31/01/05.

Publicado em 10/02/05.

ISSN 1676-0611

• Cranston, P.S., Oliver, D.R. and Sæther, O.A. 1989. The adult males of Orthocladiinae (Diptera: Chironomidae) of the Holarctic region - Keys and diagnoses. Pp 165-352, in Wiederholm, T. (ed.): Chironomidae of the Holarctic region. Keys and diagnoses. Part 3. Adult males. Ent. scand., Suppl. 34: 165-352.
• Mendes, H.F. 2002. Rearing Tanypodinae, Telmatogetoninae and Orthocladiinae in Brazil an empirical approach. Chironomus Newsletter 15: 29-32.
• Sæther, O.A. & Wang, X. 1995. Revision of the genus Paraphaenocladius Thienemann, 1924 of the world (Diptera: Chironomidae, Orthocladiinae). Ent. scand., Suppl. 48: 1-69.
• Spärck, R. & Thienemann, A. 1924. "Metriocnemus" ampullaceus var. austriacus Verh. Int. Ver. Limnol. 2: 222-223.
• Spies, M. & Reiss, F. 1996. Catalog and bibliography of Neotropical and Mexican Chironomidae. Spixiana Suppl. 22: 61-119.
• Sublette, J.E. & Sasa, M. 1994. Chironomidae collected in Onchocerciasis endemic areas of Guatemala (Insecta, Diptera). Spixiana, Suppl. 20:1-60.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  23 Oct 2006
• Date of issue
  2005

History

• Accepted
  10 Feb 2005
• Reviewed
  31 Jan 2005
• Received
  23 Nov 2004