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Morphological description of the last instar larva of Tipula (Pterelachisus) cinereocincta mesacantha Alexander 1934 (Diptera: Tipuloidea: Tipulidae), a newly recorded crane fly from China

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Abstract

Tipuloidea (crane flies) is one of the most species-rich groups of Diptera, including over 15,000 species worldwide, with a wide variety of habitats. However, relatively less attention has been paid to the larvae of crane flies in contrast to the better-known adults. In this study, Tipula (Pterelachisus) cinereocincta mesacantha Alexander, 1934 is added to the fauna of China, from larvae found beneath a piece of moss in a forest of eastern Liaoning and reared and associated with the adult stage. The external structures of the larva are described thoroughly accompanied by light microscopy photographs. In addition, with scanning electron microscopy, more detailed structures of the larval head capsule, the antenna and the mouthparts are presented for the first time for the larvae of Tipula (Pterelachisus). Some microscopic structures, including the paired peg-like sensilla on the central teeth of epipharynx, and a pair of cushiony lobes anterior to the teeth, are newly recorded for the larva of Tipuloidea. On the basis of the comparison of larval characters, the described larvae of Pterelachisus are roughly categorized into three groups. The variations of larval heads between T. (P.) cinereocincta mesacantha and other related species are also discussed. This discovery will provide new data and insights for further research on the taxonomy and phylogeny of Tipuloidea, as well as some evidence on the biology and adaptions of crane fly larvae.

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Data availability

The authors confirm that all relevant data are within this paper. Relevant specimens are accessioned at College of Plant Protection, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China (SYAU).

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mr. Rui-Yu Zhang, Ms. Zhi-Yi Sun (Shenyang Agricultural University (SYAU), Shenyang) and Ms. Ai-Di Yang (Shenyang) for assistance during the larval collection and rearing. We are grateful to Dr. Wen-Zhang Ma (Herbarium (KUN), Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Science) for identifying the moss species based on images, to Di Zhao and Xiu Li (SYAU) for providing assistance on the equipment utilization, and to Wei-Bin Wang (SYAU) for assistance on English writing. We also thank Mr. Zi-Hao Wang (SYAU) for the useful suggestions. The author Yan Li would like to give his sincere thanks to Dr. Jon Gelhaus (The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia) for leading him into the study of tipulid larvae, and for carefully revising this manuscript and improving the language as well. We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their very valuable comments to improve this manuscript. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31501880) and the Scientific Research Foundation for the Introduced Talent of Shenyang Agricultural University (Grant No. 880415013).

Funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31501880) and the Scientific Research Foundation for the Introduced Talent of Shenyang Agricultural University (Grant No. 880415013).

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Author notes

  1. Wan-Xin Cai and Yue-Tian Gao contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Economic and Applied Entomology of Liaoning Province, College of Plant Protection, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, 110866, Liaoning, China

    Wan-Xin Cai, Yan Li & Lu Jiang

  2. Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Yue-Tian Gao

Authors
  1. Wan-Xin Cai
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  2. Yue-Tian Gao
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  3. Yan Li
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  4. Lu Jiang
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Contributions

W-XC and Y-TG designed the project and developed the concept of the study. W-XC did the SEM analysis. W-XC wrote the original manuscript. All authors edited the manuscript as well as read and approved the final version.

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Correspondence to Yan Li or Lu Jiang.

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Cai, WX., Gao, YT., Li, Y. et al. Morphological description of the last instar larva of Tipula (Pterelachisus) cinereocincta mesacantha Alexander 1934 (Diptera: Tipuloidea: Tipulidae), a newly recorded crane fly from China. Zoomorphology 142, 313–325 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-023-00603-w

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