Folia faunistica Slovaca (2009) 14 (14): 99-100

TAX

GEO

First record of Tomosvaryella rossica (Diptera: Pipunculidae) from the Czech Republic

Pavel Lauterer

Department of Entomology, Moravian museum, Hviezdoslavova 29a, CZ – 627 00 Brno, Czech Republic [ento.laut@volny.cz]

Received: 10.11.2009; Accepted: 11.11.2009; Published: 12.11.2009

Abstract

During a revision of the material of some taxonomically critical species of Tomosvaryella, I found that the only two previously published records of Tomosvaryella cilitarsis (Strobl, 1910) from the Czech Republic belong in fact to Tomosvaryella rossica Kuznetzov, 1993. T. rossica is thus newly recorded here from the Czech Republic and T. cilitarsis should be deleted from the checklist of Pipunculidae of the country until some other material becomes available.

Key words

Diptera, Pipunculidae, Tomosvaryella, faunistics, Czech Republic.

Introduction

The family Pipunculidae contains many species which are very similar in colour as well as in external morphology. Some taxa with a highly characteristic external morphology were considered as homogenous species for a long time in the past, and only recently, based on a detailed study of male terminalia, they have been recognised to be in fact composed of more than one sibling species.

This is also the case of the Tomosvaryella cilitarsis (Strobl, 1910) species complex. It was first treated by Aczél (1944) who found that Pipunculus forsiusi (Frey, 1932) is a junior synonym to T. cilitarsis. Kuznetzov (1993) published a revision of the group based on the morphology of the terminalia. He confirmed the synonymy of T. cilitarsis and P. forsiusi and described a new, closely related species, T. rossica Kuznetzov, 1993, based on one male and two females. In their monograph on the West– and Central–European species of Tomosvaryella Aczél, 1939, Földvári & DeMeyer (1999) mentioned the existence of T. rossica but they did not included it into the key neither they provided illustrations of its terminalia. Only later Kehlmaier (2008a) illustrated the terminalia in detail and gave a proper diagnosis of T. rossica. He also listed this very rare species from additional localities in Finland and Germany (Saxony) and attributed the illustration of T. cilitarsis in the key of Central–European Pipunculidae by von der Dunk (1997)( without locality). Kehlmaier (2008b) published T. rossica also from Italy (South Tyrol).

Material and methods

I revised all the available material of the T. cilitarsis–group from the Czech Republic which is deposited in the collections of the Moravian Museum Brno. In these specimens, I examined the terminalia in detail.

Results and discussion

Only two records of T. cilitarsis–group have been known from the Czech Republic so far. On two separate occasions, a single specimen was collected in Moravia, the Hrubý Jeseník Mts (Mt. Praděd environs, altitudes 850–1300 m). Both records were published under the name T. cilitarsis by Lauterer (1981) and included in the check–lists by Lauterer & Kozánek (1987), Lauterer (1997) and Lauterer (2006).

After the revision of this material, I found that both records belong to T. rossica. Therefore, T. cilitarsis should be, at least for the time being, deleted from the list of the fauna of the Czech Republic. I also found that the record by Czižek is a female, not male as published by Lauterer (1981). T. rossica is thus known from the Czech Republic only from Mt. Praděd, viii. (?1907?), 1 female and Divoký důl, towards Mt. Praděd, 850–1300 m, 21.9.1970, l male (leg. Lauterer).

T. cilitarsis has a boreo–montane distribution. It is a relatively common species, known from Sweden, Finland, Scotland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, central and northern Russia and western and eastern Siberia (Altai and Yakutia) (Földvári & DeMeyer 1999, Kehlmaier 2008a, Kozánek & Belcari 1995, Kozánek & Kehlmaier 2004, Kuznetzov 1993). Only one male of T. cilitarsis has been recorded so far from Slovakia, the taxonomic identity of which is perfectly clear (Kozánek & Kehlmaier 2004). A revision of a series of T. cilitarsis from Switzerland (Graubünden: Alp Flix; published also by Mühlethaler et al. 2007) deposited in the Moravian Museum Brno suggests that the species may be relatively common in higher altitudes of the Alps.

T. rossica has a boreomontane distribution too, but it is apparently much rarer. Altogether only five males and 17 females in eight collections have been made in Germany, Italy (South Tyrol), Finland, north–western Russia, and newly also the Czech Republic (Moravia).

References

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