New and poorly known Palaearctic fungus gnats (Diptera, Sciaroidea)

• Published in: Biodiversity data journal Vol. 5; no. 5; p. e11760
• Main Authors: Salmela, Jukka, Kolcsár, Levente-Péter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 06.03.2017
• Subjects: Alps; Bibionomorpha; Boletina; boreal zone; boreo-alpine species; Central Asia; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Diptera; DNA; DNA barcodin; Far East; Fungi; Mycetophilidae; Northern Europe; Phronia; Sciaroidea; Species; Systematics; Taxonomic Paper; Fennoscandia; boreal zone; biodiversity; taxonomy; boreo-alpine species; DNA barcoding
• ISSN: 1314-2828; 1314-2836; 1314-2828
• DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.5.e11760

Fungus gnats (Sciaroidea) are a globally species rich group of lower Diptera. In Europe, Fennoscandian peninsula in particular holds a notable diversity, ca. 1000 species, of which 10 % are still unnamed. Fungus gnats are predominantly terrestrial insects, but some species dwell in wetland habitats. Eight new fungus gnat species, belonging to the families Keroplatidae ( Salmela sp.n.) and Mycetophilidae ( Salmela sp.n., Salmela sp.n., Salmela & Kolcsár sp.n., Salmela & Kolcsár sp.n., Salmela sp.n., Salmela sp.n., Salmela sp.n.), are described. Four of the species are known from Fennoscandia only whilst two are supposed to have boreo-alpine disjunct ranges, i.e. having populations in Fennoscandia and the Central European Alps. One of the species probably has a boreal range (Finnish Lapland and Central Siberia). Type material of Sasakawa & Kimura from Japan was found to consist of two species, and a further species close to these taxa is described from Finland. Hackman is redescribed and reported for the first time from Norway. DNA barcodes are provided for the first time for five species.