Leptomorphus sevciki sp. nov., a remarkable new wasp-mimicking fungus gnat from Brunei (Diptera: Mycetophilidae)

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>A new species of Mycetophilidae (Diptera), <jats:italic>Leptomorphus sevciki</jats:italic> sp. nov., is described from primary lowland rainforest in Ulu Temburong National Park in Brunei. The type specimens were reared from pupae hanging from an unidentified wood encrusting fungus growing on a fallen tree. DNA sequences, including fragments of the nuclear 28S region and the mitochondrial 12S, 16S, CytB and COI (barcode region) genes, were extracted from two specimens, including the holotype.</jats:p>

Current State of DNA Barcoding of Sciaroidea (Diptera)—Highlighting the Need to Build the Reference Library

“…This started with the use of DNA barcodes to associate immature stages [34] and females [35] to morphologically identify males. Later, DNA barcodes were increasingly used as a tool to aid in the discrimination of species for the families Mycetophilidae [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46], Sciaridae [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58], Cecidomyiidae [59][60][61][62][63], Keroplatidae [41,64,65], Ditomyiidae [66], and for a few taxa with an uncertain and contentious family placement often referred to as the Sciaroidea incertae sedis group [67,68]. DNA barcodes have also been shown to be a very efficient tool to associate females with identified males [35,.…”

An integrative taxonomic treatment of the Mycetophilidae (Diptera: Bibionomorpha) from Singapore reveals 115 new species on 730km2

“…Eight Oriental species of Leptomorphus were described by Papp & Ševčík (2011) and one by Kaspřák et al (2017). The worldwide diversity of Leptomorphus was revised by Borkent & Wheeler (2012).…”

“…For Oriental mycetophilid species described by Edwards (1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1940), we studied and photographed primary types deposited at the Natural History Museum, London. For more recently described Oriental species of Mycetophilidae, we were able to resolve species identity based on published careful descriptions with good illustrations that are here cited following recommendations in Meier (2017): Colless 1966, Zaitzev 1982, Sivec & Plassmann 1982, Wu & Yang 1986, Bechev 1995, Søli 1996, 2002, Kallweit 1998, Matile 1999, Xu & Wu 2002, Wu et al 2003, Papp 2004, Hippa et al 2005, Hippa 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, Ševčík & Hippa 2010, Hippa & Ševčík 2010, 2013, Ševčík et al 2011, Borkent & Wheeler 2012, Kurina & Hippa 2015, Hippa & Saigusa 2016, Hippa & Kurina 2018, Magnussen et al 2019, Fitzgerald 2017, Kaspřák et al 2017. Some few Oriental species—especially from Sri Lanka—cannot be recognized because the descriptions are insufficient, and the types are lost or unavailable.…”

“Dark taxonomy”: a new protocol for overcoming the taxonomic impediments for dark taxa and broadening the taxon base for biodiversity assessment

“…For the Oriental species described by Edwards (1925Edwards ( , 1926Edwards ( , 1927Edwards ( , 1928Edwards ( , 1929Edwards ( , 1931Edwards ( , 1933Edwards ( , 1935Edwards ( , 1940, we studied and photographed primary types deposited at the Natural History Museum, London. For more recently described Oriental species of Mycetophilidae, we were able to resolve species identity based on published careful descriptions with good illustrations (Colless 1966;Zaitzev 1982;Sivec and Plassmann 1982;Wu and Yang 1986;Bechev 1995;Søli 1996Søli , 2002Kallweit 1998;Matile 1999;Xu and Wu 2002;Wu et al 2003;Papp 2004;Hippa et al 2005;Hippa 2006Hippa , 2007Hippa , 2008Hippa , 2009Hippa , 2011Ševčík 2001;Ševčík and Hippa 2010;Ševčík 2010, 2013;Ševčík et al 2011;Borkent and Wheeler 2012;Kurina and Hippa 2015;Hippa and Saigusa 2016;Hippa and Kurina 2018;Magnussen et al 2019;Fitzgerald 2017;Kaspřák et al 2017;Kjaerandsen et al 2023). Some Oriental species, especially those from Sri Lanka, cannot be resolved because the descriptions are insufficiently detailed and the types were lost or are unavailable.…”