Helen’s twins in the Balkans: discovery of two new Paraptychoptera Tonnoir, 1919 species closely related to P. helena Peus, 1958, with systematic revision of the “lacustris” group (Diptera, Ptychopteridae)

Abstract

Ptychoptera castor Keresztes & Klappert, sp. nov. and P. pollux Keresztes & Török, sp. nov. both belong to the subgenus Ptychoptera (Paraptychoptera)Tonnoir (1919) and are described from boggy headwaters in the south Balkan area. These new species are closely related to the range-restricted P. helena Peus, 1958, which is known only from Oiti village, Mount Oeta, Phthioitis region, Greece and, together with P. lacustris, forms a morphologically well-defined unit in the subgenus Paraptychoptera. Based on cladistic analyses of 53 different morphological characters using the male antenna, wing, and genital structures, a general revision of the “lacustris” group is proposed with a dichotomous key of Paraptychoptera species.

Two new Ptychoptera Meigen, 1803 (Diptera, Ptychopteridae) from the Western Palaearctic

“…We undertook phylogenetic analyses to understand the relationships between the species in the subgenus Paraptychoptera . Cladistic analyses of 53 morphological characters on antennae, wing, and male terminalia (Table 1 ) were selected based on Keresztes et al (2021) and Fasbender (2014) . The list of morphological characters is described in detail by Keresztes et al (2021) .…”

“…The genus Ptychoptera Meigen, 1803 comprises more than 90 recent species worldwide (e.g., Kang et al 2013 , 2019 , 2022 ; Fasbender 2014 ; Zhang and Kang 2021 ), in Europe one genus occurs, namely Ptychoptera , with 18 species ( Oosterbroek 2006 ; Török et al 2015 ; Keresztes et al 2021 ).…”