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10-Minute Paper

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

SysEB: Evolution and Phylogenetics 1

Discovery of gnat snakeworms in Alaska: A new species of Sciara Meigen (Diptera: Sciaridae) based on morphological, molecular, and citizen science data

Sunday, November 5, 2023

1:42 PM – 1:54 PM ET

Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Chesapeake J-K

Presenting Author(s)

Thalles P. Lavinscky Pereira (he/him/his)

Postdoctoral Fellow
Museum of Comparative Zoology
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Co-Author(s)

KH

Kai Heller

Unaffiliated taxonomist
Heikendorf, Germany

Co-Author(s)

MS

Mitsuaki Sutou

University of Tokyo
Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Co-Author(s)

Derek Sikes

Curator of Insects / Professor of Entomology
University of Alaska Museum
Fairbanks, Alaska

A new species of Sciara Meigen, 1803 closely related to Sciara mirabilis (Bechstein, 1794) is described: Sciara sp. Pereira, Heller & Sutou sp. n. based on morphological, molecular, and citizen science data. Sciara minor Strobl, 1898 restit. et stat. n. is revalidated, based on morphological and molecular data. Sciara mirabilis (Bechstein, 1794) is used for a European species which was previously referenced under the junior synonym name Sciara militaris Nowicki, 1868. An estimate of the mitochondrial phylogeny of representative Sciara species, a summary of gnat snakeworm sightings in North America, and a brief review of hypotheses for such larval mass-movements are provided.