Discovered in Sciara Meigen (Diptera, Sciaridae): two preoccupied names and a remarkable new species from the Middle Pleistocene Shiobara Group in Japan

Abstract

A new fossil sciarid species, Sciara katoi Aiba and Menzel sp. nov., is described based on 48 relatively well-preserved specimens from the Shiobara Group of the Middle Pleistocene (ca. 0.3 Ma) in Nasushiobara City, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. With an average body length of 11 mm, this female fossil is the largest species in the genus Sciara Meigen, 1803 ever found and also the first sciarid species described from the Pleistocene. For a solid comparison with other representatives of the genus, all original descriptions of extant and fossil Sciara (Lycoria) species were reviewed. The extensive literature study revealed that the name Sciara thoracica is in use for three different Sciara species. For this reason, two homonyms are replaced as follows: Sciara matsumurai Menzel and Aiba nom. nov. for Sciara thoracica Matsumura, 1916; and Sciara statzi Menzel and Aiba nom. nov. for Sciara thoracica (Statz, 1944) (both preoccupied, not Sciara thoracica Macquart, 1838). Following these nomenclatural corrections, the fossil Sciara katoi Aiba and Menzel sp. nov. is morphologically compared with the two extant species Sciara rotunda Rübsaamen, 1894 and Sciara matsumurai Menzel and Aiba nom. nov.

ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:2F1F3444-71A7-460A-94A2-09B5D9466CDD