Clinocera alta Jonassen, 2021

Jonassen, Terje, Andersen, Trond, Salmela, Jukka, Suuronen, Anna & Vaesoja, Matti, 2021, Six new species of Empididae and Hybotidae (Diptera, Empidoidea) from Fennoscandia, Norwegian Journal of Entomology 68, pp. 174-186 : 175-177

Clinocera alta Jonassen sp. n. ( Figure 1A–B )

Type material. Holotype ♂, NORWAY: Finnmark, Alta, Gargiaveien, Gargiaelven at Storeng , N69.82277° E23.47884°, 90m .a.s.l., 26 June–10 July 2010, Malaise trap no. 2, Finnmarksprosjektet ( ZMBN) . Paratypes: 1♂, same data as holotype ( ZMBN) . FINLAND: 5♂♂, Lkor, Sodankylä, Pomokaira , Soasaapa , N67.8530° E26.0202°, 10 July–14 August 2013, Malaise trap, J. Salmela ( LMM) .

Additional material. FINLAND: Lkor , Sodankylä , Pomokaira, Soasaapa, N67.8530° E26.0202°, 14 August–19 September 2013, 2♂, Malaise trap, J. Salmela ( LMM: MH- EMPI-2013-0477, MH-EMPI-2013-0905) .

DIffEREntIAL dIAgnOsIs. Wing with crossvein r 2+3 –r 4, terminalia with nearly oval epandrium, clasping cercus about as long as high, triangular with round corners, half as long as height of epandrium, front edge slightly curved, inner

Jonassen et al:: Six new species of Empididae and Hybotidae from Fennoscandia

surface covered with short dentiform setae, surstylus setose.

Description. Male. Wing length 2.3–2.8 mm.

Head including face brownish-green, becoming more darkish grey below neck. Chaetotaxy of head as normal for the genus, antennae and palpus dark.

Thorax including pleurae dull brown, mesonotum with light grey stripe down the line of the inconspicuous acrostichals flanked by two narrow, darker vittae. Dorsocentrals 5, long and widespread. The bristling of the thorax as normal for the genus, with 1 strong humeral, 1 posthumeral, 2 notopleurals, 1 supraalar, 1 postalar and 2 scutellar bristles.

Wing ( Figure 1A ) without costal stigma, almost brownish bright, base of R 4 slightly clouded. With single basi-costal seta. Auxiliary crossvein usually present, contiguous with base of R 4, forming two subequal marginal cells. Vein R 4 straight, evenly diverging from R 5. Haltere dark.

Abdomen. Brown.

Terminalia ( Figure 1B ). Hypandrium with lower edge curved, dorsal edge straight. Phallus straight, hardly increasing apically, flexible distal part strongly curved. Epandrium rhomboid, surstylus elongate axe-shaped, distally expanded, front corner round. Clasping cercus short, subtriangular, inner surface completely covered with short dentiform setae. Cercal plates comparatively well developed, slender, with long hairs along their whole length.

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. Named after the type locality. The name is a noun in apposition.

Distribution and biology. The species is taken in northern Norway and Finland. In northern Norway it was collected at a lake-like broadening of the River Gargiaelva with sandy bed, broad vegetation zone with sedges ( Carex spp. ) and nearby woodland with birch ( Betula ), alder ( Alnus ) and willow ( Salix ) ( Ekrem et al. 2012: fig. 3). The Finnish collecting site is a large aapamire, i.e. a minerotrophic, patterned fen, characterized by rich fen vegetation (see Laitinen et al. 2007).

Remarks. Due to the presence of an r 2+3 – r 4 crossvein, Clinocera alta would run to C. nivalis (Zetterstedt, 1838) in the available keys (e.g. Niesiołowski 1992). In C. nivalis , however, the crossvein is closer to the wing tip, thereby forming an upper marginal cell shorter than the lower marginal cell. In C. alta sp. n. both cells are subequal in length. It must be noticed that these crossveins sometimes appear in certain specimens, and in others of the same species not. In a single specimen of C. alta this crossvein is lacking. The furnishing of the entire inner surface of the male clasping cercus with short dentiform setae may be regarded as an autapomorphic character.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Details of Clinocera alta Jonassen sp. n., male. A. Wing. B. Terminalia, lateral view.