Tanytarsus van der Wulp (Chironomidae, Diptera): new species from the western Amazon region in Peru and Brazil, new records from the Neotropics, and remarks on the taxonomy of the genus

Abstract

This research is focused on the diversity and systematics of Neotropical non-biting midges of the genus Tanytarsus van der Wulp, 1874, based on specimens collected from pristine areas of the western Amazon region in Peru and Brazil. Six new species are described: Tanytarsus aries sp. nov. (Peru), T. chicomendesi sp. nov. (Brazil, Acre), T. kaxinawa sp. nov. (Brazil, Acre; Peru), T. pinedoi sp. nov. (Peru), T. serra sp. nov. (Peru), and T. frameatus sp. nov. (Peru), the latter placed in the Tanytarsus hastatus species group, here defined. Data on several recently described Neotropical Tanytarsus, obtained by analyzing specimens recorded from different regions of Brazil (Amazonas, Bahia, Federal District, Pará, São Paulo, Tocantins) are appended, and remarks on the taxonomy and variations of their diagnostic structures are provided. Tanytarsus pollicis Reis, Lin et Ferreira-Keppler, 2022 is treated as a new synonym of Tanytarsus insolens Dantas et Giłka, 2017. Further two species, Tanytarsus marianae Reis, Lin et Ferreira-Keppler, 2022 and Tanytarsus rafaeli Reis, Lin et Ferreira-Keppler, 2022 are placed in the Tanytarsus kiche group. The Tanytarsus curvicristatus group is also supplemented with Tanytarsus giovannii Sanseverino et Trivinho-Strixino, 2010.

Tanytarsus deimos group (Chironomidae, Diptera) for two distinctive species from the Neotropics

“…Both species of the deimos group are characterized by high VR Cu values, even exceeding 1.5 in T. phobos, although the two species are not the smallest known Tanytarsus (cf. Dantas et al 2023). An interesting exception is the fossil Tanytarsus serafini Giłka, 2010, in male of which VR Cu ranges between 1.70-1.82 and is defined as one of the diagnostic characters for the monotypic serafini group (Giłka 2010, Giłka et al 2013.…”

“…The centres of the highest species richness, in the world's tropics, however, remain far from being fully discovered. This pertains also to the Neotropical region, where from 97 Tanytarsus have been described, including nearly 70% of species presented as new after 2000 and 15 new species in the last three years (Reis et al 2021(Reis et al , 2022Dantas et al 2022Dantas et al , 2023. The state of knowledge on both species' diversity and geographical distribution of Tanytarsus in the Neotropics is uneven, as most species have been described from Brazil (69), while in other countries the numbers are much lower, including Mexico (3 species), Panama (2), and Peru (7) (Dantas et al 2022(Dantas et al , 2023.…”

Mimes of the past: Eocene midges of the tribe Pseudochironomini (Chironomidae, Diptera) reveal their peculiarities

“…Males of the subfamily Chironominae are known for having the most complex genital apparatus among the mime midges. Their hypopygium may be equipped with up to four pairs of highly diversified appendages bearing variously shaped setae or lamellae, and even branching onto yet further projections [15,17]. Distinguishing the species is even more challenging when one takes intraspecific variability into account.…”