Dicranota ( Rhaphidolabis ) seoi Podenas, 2025

Dicranota ( Rhaphidolabis) seoi Podenas sp. nov.

Figs 66–68 View Figures 66–68 , 91 View Figures 77–93

Type material

(Fig. 91 View Figures 77–93 ). South Korea • Holotype ♂ (in ethanol); Gangwon-do, Chuncheon-si, Namsan-myeon , Gongchon-ri ; 37.81159°N, 127.64919°E; alt. 131 m; 7 October 2018; S. Podenas leg.; net; NIBR GoogleMaps . Paratypes • 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (in ethanol); Jeollanam-do, Gurye-gun, Toji-myeon, Naeseo-ri , Jirisan National Park , Piagol valley ; 35.26590°N, 127.58096°E; alt. 446 m; 24 April 2015; S. Podenas leg.; at light; NIBR GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis.

Medium-sized dark brown species. Wing semi-translucent, milky without darker areas except brownish stigma. Antenna 14 - segmented with large apical segment. Epandrium of male genitalia with straight caudal margin bordered with small lateral lobe. Gonocoxite with rounded dorso-apical lobe. Both gonostyli elongate. Gonostyli and gonocoxal lobe covered with short pale spines. Interbase large, flat, with strong spine dorso-caudally. Aedeagus short with blunt apex. Ovipositor yellow with arched cercus and straight hypogynial valve.

Etymology.

The species is named after the Korean entomologist Dr Hong-Yul Seo, who not only studied Korean aphids, but did a lot for other groups of insects. He is a very warm person, our friend and colleague, and with whom we collected together on that cold October day when the holotype of this species was found.

Description.

General body colouration dark brown. Male body length 10.0 mm, wing length 9.2 mm.

Head. Dark greyish brown, narrowly paler along eye margin, covered with sparse semi-erect dark setae dorsally, longer frontally, shorter caudally. Eyes widely separated, distance between them at base of antenna nearly equals length of scape. Male antenna 1.5 mm long, reaching to approx. frontal margin of prescutum if bent backwards, female antenna not reaching frontal margin of prescutum if bent backwards. Scape dark brown, subcylindrical, bearing few erect setae dorsally. Pedicel somewhat paler, slightly widening towards distal end. Flagellum 12 - segmented in both sexes, brown, basal flagellomere slightly elongate, similar to pedicel, succeeding flagellomeres short, subglobular, distal flagellomeres slightly elongate, apical flagellomere large, distinctly longer than preceding segment, especially in female. Verticils short, not reaching length of respective flagellomeres. Rostrum and palpus brown, labellum pale.

Thorax. Uniformly dark brown. Cervical sclerites paler. Pronotum with yellowish lateral margin, bearing few erect whitish setae dorsally. Presutural scutum dark brown with three longitudinal stripes. Medial stripe very wide, not reaching suture caudally, area between caudal margin of stripe and suture yellowish. Stripes separated by grey area, covered with erect pale setae. Pseudosutural fovea indistinct. Prothoracic spiracle surrounded by yellowish membrane. Scutal lobe dark brown, area between lobes yellowish. Scutellum yellowish brown. Mediotergite dark brown. Pleuron uniformly dark brown, just ventral margin of katepisternum narrowly blackish. Wing (Fig. 66 View Figures 66–68 ) elongate, length / width ratio 3.8, widest slightly before tip of vein CuP, semi-translucent, milky, yellowish at base, without any darker spots besides brownish stigma. Veins greyish to brownish, yellowish at wing base. Venation: Sc long, reaching wing margin slightly beyond frontal margin of stigma, far beyond of R 2 + 3 + 4 branching point, sc-r closer to origin of radial sector than to humeral vein. Rs short, 2.3 × as long as cross-vein m-cu, slightly arched. Free end of R 1 short, approximately as long as R 2. Vein R 2 nearly transverse. R 3, R 4, and R 5 nearly straight and parallel to each other. Cell r 3 with distinct stem, which is as long as cross-vein r-m. Discal cell missing due to atrophy of vein m-m. Cell m 1 rather long, its stem 1.8 × as long as cell itself. Cross-vein m-cu half of its own length beyond branching point of M. Vein CuP nearly straight, A 1 slightly arched before wing margin. Anal angle wide and rounded. Halter long, uniformly pale, knob not darker than stem in male, slightly infuscate in female. Length of male halter 1.2 mm. Fore coxa dorsally brown, ventrally obscure yellow, brown area approximately equals yellow. Middle coxa brown with yellowish distal part, posterior coxa entirely brown. Trochanters obscure yellow with narrowly blackened distal margin. Femora brown with widely pale base and darker distal part. Tibiae brown with indistinctly darker distal part. Tarsomeres brown, except dark brown last segment. Male femur I: 3.3–3.8 mm long, II: 4.0 mm, III: 4.0– 4.4 mm, tibia I: 3.4–3.8 mm, II: 3.2–3.4 mm, III: 3.7–4.1 mm, tarsus I: 4.2–5.2 mm, II: 3.6–3.9 mm, III: 3.8–4.6 mm. Female femur I: 3.3–4.0 mm long, II: 3.8 mm, III: 4.0– 4.5 mm, tibia I: 3.0 mm, II: 2.9 mm, III: 2.9–3.8 mm, tarsus I: 3.3 mm, II: 2.8 mm, III: 2.9–3.7 mm. Claw small, brownish, slightly arched, with subbasal spine.

Abdomen. Brown, slightly dusted with grey, basal sternite yellowish. Both tergites and sternites covered with very sparse short pale setae. Male terminalia (Fig. 67 View Figures 66–68 ) brown with yellowish gonocoxites. Posterior margin of epandrium straight with small serration, covered with short pale setae, lateral margin with small simple, triangle-shaped lobe. Gonocoxite elongate, ~ 2 × as long as wide, with rounded lobe dorso-apically. Mesal margin of lobe covered with sparse short, spine-shaped setae. Two pairs of gonostyli. Outer gonostylus elongate, brown, fleshy and setose, round-apexed. Mesal and caudal margins covered with pale short spines. Inner gonostylus long and narrow, wider at base, slightly arched, pale brown, nearly as long as outer gonostylus. Mesal margin with few long pale spines. Interbase large, wide plate-shaped, dorso-caudal angle extended into large strong spine, ventral margin finely serrate. Aedeagus short, blunt-apexed. Paramere elongate, slightly curved. Ovipositor (Fig. 68 View Figures 66–68 ) brownish yellow with pale distal part of hypogynial valve. Cercus uniformly brownish yellow, just tip paler. Distal part distinctly narrower, raised upwards, apex blunt. Hypogynial valve straight, brownish yellow at base. Dorsal margin with few short subbasal setae, reaching to ~ 1 / 4 of valve. Two spermathecae small, subglobular.

Habitat.

Margins of fast running mountainous streams with rocky bottom. Slopes covered with mixed forest and sparse herbaceous vegetation. Preimaginal stages unknown. Both males and females attracted to light.

Elevation.

From 100 m to 450 m.

Period of activity.

Two generations per year, one flying early in spring at the end of April, the second late in the season at the beginning of October.

Distribution.

Currently known only from South Korea, but probably has a wider distribution throughout the country, because both localities are far from each other.

Remarks.

Generally Dicranota ( R.) seoi Podenas , sp. nov. resembles D. ( R.) minuscula : both are comparatively large dark species. The wings of both species are similar, without a dark pattern, just the stigma of D. ( R.) seoi Podenas , sp. nov. is slightly darker, the stem of cell m 3 is slightly longer in D. ( R.) minuscula , and the cross-vein R 2 slightly more oblique in D. ( R.) minuscula . These characters are rather stable, but the best characters for species discrimination are found in the male terminalia. The easiest way to tell both species apart is through the caudal margin of the epandrium, that is straight with a small lateral lobe in D. ( R.) seoi Podenas , sp. nov. and deeply concave with a large rounded lateral lobe in D. ( R.) minuscula . The gonocoxite of D. ( R.) seoi Podenas , sp. nov. bears a distinct dorso-apical lobe, while that of D. ( R.) minuscula is simple, without such a lobe. Both gonostyli of D. ( R.) seoi Podenas , sp. nov. approximately equal in length, outer gonostylus distinctly shorter than inner gonostylus in D. ( R.) minuscula . Females of both species can be separated based on the structure of the cercus, the distal part of which is narrower in D. ( R.) seoi Podenas , sp. nov. than in D. ( R.) minuscula . A good external character separating D. ( R.) seoi Podenas , sp. nov. from other Korean Rhaphidolabis and especially from the similar D. ( R.) ompoana is the unique 14 - segmented antenna. Dicranota ( R.) ompoana , like most other Korean Rhaphidolabis have 13 - segmented antenna.

We expect D. ( R.) seoi Podenas , sp. nov. to be more abundant in Korea, but because adults fly only early in the spring and late in the fall, when most crane flies and other insects are inactive, few entomologists collect in the field; thus they are not well represented in entomological collections.