Penthetria Meigen (Diptera: Bibionidae): Revision of the New World species and world catalog

Abstract

The New World species of Penthetria Meigen are revised. Eight species are recognized: P. appendicula Hardy, P. arizonensis Fitzgerald n. sp., P. distincta Hardy, P. dolichopeza Fitzgerald n. sp., P. heteroptera (Say), P. mexicana (Hardy), P. neonigrita Fitzgerald n. sp., and P. yakima Fitzgerald n. sp.. Penthetria heros Say and P. nigerrima (Bellardi) are considered unrecognized (nomen dubium) and P. nigrita Perty is transferred to the genus Plecia Wiedemann, where it is a junior synonym of Plecia plagiata Wiedemann. The fossil species Penthetria dubia Geinitz is removed from family Bibionidae. Additionally, a summary of current knowledge about the genus, a generic description and diagnosis, and a catalog of the 36 (extant) world species are provided.

An update on Penthetria funebris (Diptera: Bibionidae) in Romania

“…Here Penthetria funebris is the only species of the genus in which males have brachypterous wings (Figs 2A, 3A), so only the females are able to fly, having normally developed wings (Fitzgerald 2021). The male head is illustrated in Fig 2B and the male terminalia in Fig.…”

“…There are 36 Penthetria species distributed in the Neotropical, Oriental, Nearctic and Palearctic regions, and only 2 species are known from Europe, namely Penthetria funebris Meigen, 1804 and Penthetria heteroptera (Say, 1823) (Fitzgerald 2021). The latter was recorded only once in Germany, and probably accidentally introduced from the Nearctic region (Fitzgerald and Werner 2004).…”

“…The latter was recorded only once in Germany, and probably accidentally introduced from the Nearctic region (Fitzgerald and Werner 2004). In the recent world catalogue of Penthetria Meigen published by Fitzgerald (2021), Penthetria funebris is recorded from Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and Slovakia, but Romania is not mentioned (the species is also not mentioned from Italy and Netherlands (Dahl et al 1995;Zeegers 2001)). However, the species was recorded from Romania in 1967Romania in , 1968Romania in and 1969 the name of Penthetria holosericea Meigen, 1818 (Mărgărit 1972, Iacob 1980) and Fitzgerald and Werner (2004) also listed the species from Romania.…”

“…The adults are active usually from mid-April to mid-May and have a life span shorter than one month (Frouz et al 2015). In the adult stage, the species (Fitzgerald 2021). The females lay approximately 130 eggs (Fitzgerald 2021) probably in small cracks on the surface of the soil (unlike other European Bibionidae, Penthetria do not have the fore tibia modified to dig a hole in the substrate for laying eggs) (Fitzgerald 2021).…”