Phylogeny and classification of the Sciaroidea (Diptera: Bibionomorpha): Where do we stand after Amorim & Rindal (2007)?

Eine Publikation zur Phylogenie der Sciaroidea von D. Amorim und E. Rindal aus dem Jahr 2007 wird besprochen. Die phylogenetische Hypothese, die die Autoren aus ihrer quantitativen morphologischen Analyse abgeleitet haben, wird von ihnen benutzt, um eine Neuklassifikation der Sciaroidea vorzuschlagen. Diese unterscheidet sich grundlegend von bisherigen Klassifikationen. In der vorliegenden Besprechung wird an Beispielen aufgezeigt, dass die von Amorim und Rindal benutzte Merkmalsmatrix auf verheerende Weise fehlerhaft ist, sowohl was die eingesetzten Taxa als auch die verwendeten Merkmale betrifft. Im Ergebnis muss festgestellt werden, dass diese Verwandtschaftsanalyse nicht wiederholbar und die daraus resultierende Verwandtschaftshypothese weder nachprüfbar noch widerlegbar ist. Deshalb wird nahegelegt, die in Rede stehende Publikation nicht zur Begründung etwaiger Änderungen an der bestehenden Sciaroidea-Klassifikation heranzuziehen.StichwörterDiptera, Sciaroidea, phylogeny, family classification, review.A paper on the phylogeny of the Sciaroidea by D. Amorim and E. Rindal from 2007 is reviewed. The phylogenetic hypothesis derived from morphological quantitative analysis is used by these authors to propose a new classification of the Sciaroidea which differs significantly from previous classifications. In the present review it is shown by way of examples that the data matrix used by Amorim and Rindal is fatally flawed in terms of both the employed taxa and characters. As a result, the analysis is not repeatable and the hypothesis resulting from it is neither testable nor rebuttable. It is suggested that the paper in question should not be used as a basis for changes in the traditional classification of the Sciaroidea.KeywordsDiptera, Sciaroidea, phylogeny, family classification, review

Report on trial of SatScan tray scanner system by SmartDrive Ltd.

Smartdrive Ltd. has developed a prototype imaging system, SatScan, that captures digitised images of large areas while keeping smaller objects in focus at very high resolution. The system was set up in the Sackler Biodiversity Imaging laboratory of Natural History Museum on March 8, 2010 for a one-month trial. A series of projects imaging parts of the entomological, botanical and palaeoentomological collection were conducted to assess the systems utility for museum collection management and biodiversity research. The technical and practical limitations of the system were investigated as part of this process

The Ohakunea group in Tasmania, with description of Colonomyia tasmanica sp. n. (Diptera: Sciaroidea).

Die Ohakunea-Gattungsgruppe, die keiner Familie innerhalb der Sciaroidea zugeordnet ist, hat drei Arten in Tasmanien: Ohakunea australiensis Colless, die erstmals von dort gemeldet wird, Colonomyia albicaulis Colless und Colonomyia tasmanica sp. n. Die neue Art, die offenbar in Tasmanien endemisch ist, ist nächstverwandt mit Colonomyia rakelae Hippa & Jaschhof von Neuguinea. Hier dargelegte neue Argumente unterstützen die Hypothese, dass die australasiatischen Colonomyia-Arten eine Abstammungsgemeinschaft (= Colonomyia sensu stricto) bilden, die von den kongenerischen Arten in der neotropischen Region gut unterschieden ist. Die komplexe Struktur des männlichen und weiblichen Genitalapparates von Colonomyia s. str. spp. wird dargestellt und dahingehend diskutiert, dass hier möglicherweise ein Beispiel für den Schlüssel-Schloss-Mechanismus vorliegt.StichwörterDiptera, Sciaroidea, Ohakunea group, Colonomyia, new species, Tasmania.Nomenklatorische Handlungentasmanica Jaschhof & Jaschhof, 2008 (Colonomyia), spec. n.The Ohakunea group of genera (unplaced to any family of the Sciaroidea) is present in Tasmania with three species: Ohakunea australiensis Colless, which is newly recorded, Colonomyia albicaulis Colless, and Colonomyia tasmanica sp. n. The new species, which appears to be endemic to Tasmania, is the closest relative of Colonomyia rakelae Hippa & Jaschhof from New Guinea. New arguments presented here support the hypothesis that the Australasian species of Colonomyia form a clade (= Colonomyia sensu stricto) distinct from the congeneric species in the Neotropical region. The complex structure of male and female terminalia of Colonomyia s. str. spp. possibly present an example of lock-and-key that is documented and discussed.KeywordsDiptera, Sciaroidea, Ohakunea group, Colonomyia, new species, Tasmania.Nomenclatural Actstasmanica Jaschhof & Jaschhof, 2008 (Colonomyia), spec. n

New records and first DNA barcodes of Sciarosoma nigriclava (Strobl, 1898) (Diptera, Sciaroidea incertae sedis) from Norway

New records of Sciarosoma nigriclava (Strobl, 1898) are presented from Engerdal in Hedmark and Gargialia outside Alta in Finnmark. This unique species, belonging to the enigmatic Heterotrichagroup still unplaced in family, has not been recorded in Norway since the genus and species was described under the name Sciarosoma borealis Chandler, 2002; at the time only a single male from Østmarka Nature Reserve in Akershus was reported. All four specimens of our new material were successfully DNA barcoded and aligned with a single additional sequence of the species available on The Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD), mined from GenBank. The assigned Barcode Index Number (BIN) for the species displays a considerable distance of some 15% to any other Diptera on BOLD, underscoring the isolated phylogenetic position of the species among the Sciaroidea. Both the new collecting sites are situated within or nearby old-growth pine and spruce forests, supporting the view that the species may serve as an indicator of pristine coniferous forest in the boreal Taiga

Two new species of the genus Phronia Winnertz (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) from Finland and Russian Karelia

Phronia avidoides sp.n. and Phronia fennica sp.n. are described based on several adult males collected by Malaise trapping, sweep-netting and rearing from decaying wood in Finland and Russian Karelia in the period 1989–2005. Detailed illustrations of male terminalia are also presented for three further closely related but poorly known species, Phronia avida Gagne, 1975, Phronia petulans Dziedzicki, 1889 and Phronia subsilvatica Hackman, 1970

Rocetelion humerale (Zetterstedt, 1850) (Diptera, Keroplatidae) rediscovered in Norway after more than 100 years, with description of the larva and its habitat.

Accepted for publication in Norwegian Journal of Entomology: http://www.entomologi.no/journals/nje/nje.htm.The large and conspicuous keroplatid species Rocetelion humerale (Zetterstedt, 1850) was previously documented with a single record from Norway only, a more than one hundred-year-old record of a male from Erfjord in Rogaland County, published in 1914, for which the voucher specimen has been searched for in vain in museum collections. In the summer of 2020, a new record of an adult male was photo-documented alive and then sampled from a barn in the village Førde in Sveio municipality, Vestland County. The following year, in October 2021, a population of larvae were located at a large, decaying log of beech (Fagus sylvatica) in the same area, a parsonage garden consisting of seminatural park landscape dominated by beech located just some 250 meters from the barn where the male was collected. The population of larvae living on this log was investigated also in 2022 with observations of active larvae in wintertime (early January), no findings in August but numerous spins and several larvae observed again in October. The living larvae were photo-documented and filmed. Five larvae were sampled, four of them successfully associated with the male through DNA barcoding. Both the adult male and the larvae are described and richly illustrated. Rocetelion humerale is redlisted as endangered (EN) in Norway and the new records are discussed in a wider context of records and the previous scarce knowledge of its biology abroad. The new data on its biology underscores the importance of leaving huge, windfallen logs of broadleaved trees to decay without cleaning up by removing them, and a practice to create fauna depots with large logs of dead wood in semi-park and park landscapes is suggested to help the species’ survival in lack of natural habitats with similar qualities

A remarkable new genus Manzumbadoa gen. n. from Costa Rica (Diptera: Sciaridae).

Die Sciaride Manzumbadoa bradysioides gen. et sp. n. aus Costa Rica wird beschrieben. Das Flügelgeäder von Manzumbadoa zeichnet sich durch eine Merkmalskombination aus, die nicht nur innerhalb der Sciaridae, sondern innerhalb der gesamten Sciaroidea einmalig ist und mehrere Apomorphien einschließt. Besonders bemerkenswert ist das Auftreten der fusionierten Radio-Media (frm), ein für die Sciaridae bisher unbekanntes Merkmal. Manzumbadoa gehört in einen Verwandtschaftskomplex um die Gattung Bradysia Winnertz, dessen Phylogenie bisher nur ansatzweise verstanden wird.Stichwörter Diptera, Sciaroidea, Sciaridae, new genus, new species, Costa Rica.Nomenklatorische Handlungenbradysioides Jaschhof & Mohrig, 2005 (Manzumbadoa), spec. n.Manzumbadoa Jaschhof & Mohrig, 2005 (Sciaridae), gen. n.The sciarid Manzumbadoa bradysioides gen. et sp. n. from Costa Rica is described. This new genus is outstanding for its wing venation that is unique not only among the Sciaridae but all the Sciaroidea. In particular, the presence of the fused radio-media (frm) in Manzumbadoa bradysioides is most remarkable as no other species of the Sciaridae shows this character. Manzumbadoa belongs to a group of genera around Bradysia Winnertz, the phylogeny of which is still poorly understood.Keywords Diptera, Sciaroidea, Sciaridae, new genus, new species, Costa Rica.Nomenclatural Actsbradysioides Jaschhof & Mohrig, 2005 (Manzumbadoa), spec. n.Manzumbadoa Jaschhof & Mohrig, 2005 (Sciaridae), gen. n

A new species of Micrepimera Matile (Diptera: Keroplatidae) from Baltic Amber

A new species of Micrepimera Matile, 1990 (Diptera: Keroplatidae) from Baltic amber is described. Known species of Macrocera from Baltic amber are reviewed. Macrocera elegantissima Meunier, 1904 is transferred to Micrepimera; a lectotype is designated for this species

Fungus gnats (Diptera: Bolitophilidae, Diadocidiidae, Keroplatidae and Mycetophilidae) new to Finland

Thirty-seven species of fungus gnats new to Finland are reported. Eleven of these are reported in Fennoscandia for the first time: Diadocidia fissa Zaitzev, Macrocera estonica Landrock, M. nigricoxa Winnertz, M. pusilla Meigen, Boletina pallidula Edwards, Mycetophila morata Zaitzev, M. ostentanea Zaitzev, Trichonta nigritula Edwards, T. subterminalis Zaitzev & Menzel, Neoempheria winnertzi Edwards and Neuratelia sintenisi Lackschewitz. The records are based on original material collected in large-scale trapping projects in Southern and Eastern Finland mainly in old-growth forests during 1997–1998. Detailed information on Finnish findings, and data on the general distribution of the species are given. Several species are known with only one (typematerial) or a few previous records ranging from Norway to Sakhalin. For two poorly-known species, Neuratelia sintenisi Lackschewitz and Rymosia pinnata Ostroverkhova, new figures of male genitalia are presented

A Rarely Seen Taxonomic Revision with Immense Value for 41 Years and Counting: Reflections on the 1981 Monograph of Trichonta Winnertz, 1864 (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) by Raymond Gagné, with an Integrative Revision of the Trichonta Vulcani (Dziedzicki, 1889) Species Complex.

We celebrate Raymond J. Gagné for his contributions to taxonomy of the Mycetophilidae (Diptera), specifically for his forty-one-years-old monograph of Holarctic Trichonta Winnertz, 1864 that is still the primary source used for species identification in the genus. We briefly reflect on his monograph´s impact and demonstrate by use of recent DNA barcode data extracted from BOLD Systems (BOLD) that the model for the distribution of Holarctic Mycetophilidae that Gagné presented in the monograph still holds up to scrutiny. To demonstrate the refined species concept now being applied by use of an integrative taxonomic approach that includes DNA barcodes, we revise a small, but distinct, species complex that Gagné recognized as one morphologically defined species and used as an example of an old pan-Holarctic taxon, Trichonta vulcani (Dziedzicki, 1889). We find the Trichonta vulcani species complex (sensu Kallweit 1998) to consist of at least six species in the Holarctic Region of which three are being described as new to science: Trichonta japonica Kurina, new species (East Palearctic), Trichonta neovulcani Kjaerandsen, new species (East Nearctic), Trichonta raymondgagnei Kjaerandsen, new species (Holarctic), Trichonta trifida Lundstrom, 1909 (wide Palearctic), Trichonta tristis (Strobl, 1898) (wide Palearctic), and Trichonta vulcani (Dziedzicki, 1889) (wide Palearctic). All six species are distinctly separated by DNA barcodes that correspond well to minor, but constant, differences in their male terminalia. However, one of the widespread species, Trichonta trifida, displays some genetic and morphological differentiation between western and eastern Palaearctic populations. We presently consider these populations conspecific pending broader sampling. We further propose a replacement name Trichonta nepalensis Kjaerandsen, new name for Trichonta superba Gagné, 1981, a junior primary homonym of Trichonta superba Ostroverkhova, 1979, the latter being a junior secondary synonym of Trichonta tristis (Strobl, 1898)