Parydra (Parydra) coarctata ( Fallén, 1813 )

Stuke, Jens-Hermann, 2025, Taxonomic and faunistic comments on European Parydra Stenhammar, 1844 (Diptera: Ephydridae) with new species from Finland and Jordan, Zootaxa 5686 (1), pp. 49-105 : 54-55

Parydra (Parydra) coarctata ( Fallén, 1813)

( Figs. 4 , 38–41 )

Ephydra coarctata Fallén 1813: 247–248 ; locus typicus not given [“ Sverige “]; syntype ♂ ♀ [MZLU, Mathis & Zatwarnicki 1995].

Napaea stagnicola Robineau-Desvoidy 1830: 799–800 ; locus typicus not given [presumably France]; no information available about type material [MNHN, Mathis & Zatwarnicki 1995], jr. syn. nov.

Napaea stagnicola Variété A. Napaea major Robineau-Desvoidy 1830 b: 800 ; type-locality: „de l'étang de Ville-d'Avray“ [ France]; no information available about type material [MNHN, Mathis & Zatwarnicki 1995], synonymy by Haliday (1839).

Ephydra rufitarsis Macquart 1835: 536 ; type-locality: „Du nord de la France “; no information available about type material [MNHN, Mathis & Zatwarnicki 1995], synonymy by Haliday (1839).

Ephydra fuscipennis Macquart 1835: 540 ; type-locality: „de Liége“ [ Belgium]; no information available about type material [MNHN, Mathis & Zatwarnicki 1995], synonymy by Becker (1905).

Parydra cognata Loew 1860: 32–33 ; type-locality: „ Sicilien “ [ Italy]; holotype ♀ [ZMB, Zatwarnicki 1987], synonymy by Krivosheina (1989).

Primary type material examined:

♀ holotype of P. cognata with these labels: (1) “[illegible signs]”; (2) “Coll. / H. Loew ”; (3) “14466”; (4) “ Parydra / cognata /m.”; (5) “ Holotypus ”; (6) “ Parydra / coarctata / Fll. / M. Krivosheina det., 1985”; (7) “Zool. Mus. / Berlin ”

Additional Material examined: 959 specimens from Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy , Jordan , Portugal, Turkey with new country records from Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan: CROATIA : 1♂ 4♀♀, 14.vii.2018, Čikola 2 km w Otavice [43.841°N 16.239°E] ; 1♀, 25.vi.2017, Ðuračica 5 km s Magić Mala [45.133°N 17.596°E] ; 1♂, 24.vi.2017, fishponds 1.5 km ne Stražanac [45.635°N 17.097°E] ; 1♀, 4.vii.2018, Krka n Lozovac [43.802°N 15.966°E] ; 6♂♂, 19.vii.2018, small river 1 km e Ramljane [43.975°N 16.212°E] ; 1♂, 26.vi.2017, small river 5.2 km sse Lacići [45.590°N 18.235°E] ; 1♀, 18.vii.2018, small river s Vrpolje [43.672°N 16.009°E] ; 1♂, 24.vi.2017, valley 1 km se Donja Rasenica [45.664°N 17.223°E] ; 1♂ 1♀, 24.vi.2017, valley 1.5 km ne Rastovac [45.691°N 17.288°E]; CYPRUS : 1♀, 31.iii.2015, southern shore Paralimni lake [35.027°N 33.963°E]; GEORGIA : 1♀, 1.vii.2019, 2.8 km nnw Jikurebi lake [41.598°N 45.326°E] ; 3♂♂, 10.vii.2019, Algeti river 0.8 km wnw Tskhrakudaani [41.675°N 44.379°E] ; 1♂, 12.vii.2019, Bughdasheni lake [41.198°N 43.689°E] ; 1♀, 1.vii.2019, Iori river ne Sartichala [41.723°N 45.181°E] ; 1♂, 8.vii.2019, Kura river e Variani [42.073°N 44.040°E] ; 1♂, 7.vii.2019, Kura river nw Dzegvi [41.850°N 44.599°E] ; 1♂, 29.vi.2019, Kura valley se Rustawi [41.520°N 45.023°E] ; 1♀, 12.vii.2019, Saghamo lake se banks [41.297°N 43.754°E] ; 3♂♂ 1♀, 1.vii.2019, small river 1.6 km wsw Tokhliauri [41.721°N 45.403°E] ; 1♂ 9♀♀, 10.vii.2019, small river valley sw Manglisi [41.694°N 44.379°E] ; 1♂, 13.vii.2019, small valley 1.1 km ne Abrameti [41.620°N 44.508°E] ; 4♂♂ 1♀, 4.vii.2019, Snostskali river 0.6 km nw Sno [42.609°N 44.633°E] ; 2♂♂, 4.vii.2019, Snostskali river 0.8 km se Sno [42.600°N 44.645°E] ; 1♀, 3.vii.2019, Terek river 1.3 km sw Stepantsminda [42.649°N 44.634°E] ; 2♂♂ 3♀♀, 4.vii.2019, Terek river 1.6 km w Ukhati [42.558°N 44.502°E]; KYRGYZSTAN : 1♀, 27.v.2019, river bed ca. 1.6 km nnw Kyzylungungir [41.406°N 73.053°E] .

Diagnosis: Typical material of P. coarctata is recognised by the white setulae on the middle coxa, partly orange-brown tarsi, scutellum with an apical tooth, broad gena (gena-eye ratio = 0.4–0.5) and radius r 2+3 with a vein stump ( Fig. 4 ). ♂ has no dense black setulae on the middle tibia unlike other species of Parydra s. str. ♂ terminalia are unique in the combination of the separated phallus and phallus apodeme ( Fig. 40 ) and the broad phallus in dorsal view ( Fig. 38 ) with an upcurved tip ( Fig. 40 ). Females with completely dark tarsi closely resemble P. obliterata and the characters given in the key should be checked carefully.

Taxonomy: Robineau-Desvoidy (1830: 799–798) described Napaea stagnicola and separated the species in two forms: "Variété A. Napaea major " for which he gave no additional character and "Variété B. Napaea minor " for which he added a diagnosis. Haliday (1839: 407–408) synonymised both forms: " stagnicola minor " as P. fossarum and " stagnicola major " as P. coarctata but didn´t mention the name P. stagnicola s. str. As a result, there were two synonyms ( P. major = P. coarctata , P. minor = P. fossarum ) but three names ( P. stagnicola , P. major , P. minor ). Mathis & Zatwarnicki (1995) listed P. stagnicola as a valid species, Evenhuis et al (2010) only list P. stagnicola and ignore P. minor and P. major . Robineau-Desvoidy (1830) doesn´t give any characters for P. major other than those given for P. stagnicola . Given this it seems reasonable to conclude that he intends the names P. stagnicola s. str. and P. stagnicola major to apply to the same taxon. Both are therefore objective synonyms and following Haliday (1839) Napaea stagnicola Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 must be placed as a junior synonym of Ephydra coarctata Fallén, 1813 (syn. nov.).

Parydra cognata has been ignored by most recent authors due to the main character, the absence of a vein stump at radius R 2+3, not being suitable to distinguish between P. cognata and P. coarctata . Krivosheina (1989) investigated the terminalia of P. cognata , P. coarctata and P. obliterata and concluded that they were conspecific while noting a high level of intraspecific variability. Stuke (2023) examined the holotype and additional material of Parydra s. str. from Sicily and could not find any characters to distinguish P. cognata as a separate species from P. coarctata . Beschovski & Zatwarnicki (2004) describe differences in the shape of the phallus, but their drawings are not convincing. Following the concept of Krivosheina (1989) I treat P. cognata as a junior synonym of P. coarctata .

Distribution in Europe: Parydra coarctata is probably the commonest species of the genus in Europe and is distributed nearly throughout the continent. There is a distribution border in Northern Europe where, in Finland, the species reaches 66°N. There are no records from Iceland to date. Outside Europe P. coarctata is known from Morocco ( Vitte 1988, 1991) to Jordan ( Stuke 2012), Lebanon ( Becker 1926) and Turkey ( Pârvu & Popescu-Mirceni 2006 a). The distribution in Asia reaches at least to Turkmenistan and Tajikistan ( Krivosheina 1989) and Eastern Siberia ( Dahl 1968).

Biology: Parydra coarctata occurs in a wide variety of permanent and temporary wetlands with rich vegetation. The species may prefer forests with water but also colonizes open habitats. It is also regularly found in saline habitats. Parydra coarctata is polyvoltine and flies in Southern Europe all year round. It can frequently be found in winter in central Europe and may regularly overwinter as an adult. Stigmatomyces trianguliapicalis T. Majewski, 1972 has been reported to grow on P. coarctata ( Huldén 1985, Santamaría & Rossi 1993). No information is available concerning its larval biology.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Habitus of Parydra coarctata (Fallén).

FIGURES 38–41. Terminalia of Parydra coarctata (Fallén).38, dorsal view. 39, hypandrium, maximal expansion. 40, phallus and phallus apodeme, lateral view.41, hypandrium with postgonite, lateral view.hy—hypandrium; pg—postgonite; ph—phallus; pha—phallus apodeme.