Chaetocladius (Amblycladius) britae Säwedal, 1976 (Diptera, Chironomidae, Orthocladiinae) representing a little-known subgenus from the High-North, discovered in Norway and DNA barcoded for the first time

Abstract

New records of Chaetocladius britae Säwedal, 1976 are presented, representing the first records of the species in Norway. Twenty-four male specimens were caught in a Malaise trap set in a tiny ravine with an underground spring brook with associated tiny pools of standing water connected to the meandering River Nakkelva at Breivikeidet in Troms, northern Norway. The poorly known species was originally described from Lule Lappmark in Sweden, based on a single male only, and has subsequently been recorded only three times in northern Finland. Following recent reviews of the subgenus Amblycladius Kieffer, 1923 Chaetocladius (s. str.) britae is transferred to Amblycladius new combination mainly due to its large hypopygium and complex gonostylus. The subgenus Amblycladius is then represented with five species, four of which are confined to northernmost Europe, and a fifth species, described from Far East Russia, that was recently added to the subgenus. The DNA barcodes of both the species Chaetocladius (Amblycladius) britae and the subgenus Amblycladius are presented for the first time, and the closest DNA barcode matches of unidentified materials on BOLD indicate that the subgenus may be present also in North America and China.