The Finnish species of Pipizella Rondani, 1856 (Diptera, Syrphidae), with descriptions of the female sex of Pipizella certa Violovitsh, 1981 and Pipizella obscura van Steenis & Lucas, 2011

  • Antti Haarto Zoological Museum, Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland
  • Gunilla Ståhls Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus, Zoology unit, University of Helsinki, PO Box 17, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0505-0691
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2026.1066.3290
Keywords: Syrphidae, Pipizinae, Pipizella, DNA barcoding, identification, female descriptions

Abstract

The hoverfly genus Pipizella Rondani, 1856 (Diptera: Syrphidae: Pipizinae) is represented by three species in Finland, the widespread Palaearctic species Pipizella viduata (Linnaeus, 1758), and two rare Palaearctic species, Pipizella certa Violovitsh, 1981 and Pipizella obscura van Steenis & Lucas, 2011. Hitherto, species identification of Finnish Pipizella spp. was feasible only for the male sex using morphological characteristics of the male genitalia. This study focussed on identifying candidate female specimens of P. certa and P. obscura using morphological hypotheses. We generated mtDNA COI barcodes for males and females of selected Pipizella specimens. The barcoding results corroborated the employed morphological hypotheses by linking the unknown female sex with the correct male species identity. The hitherto unknown females of P. certa and P. obscura are here morphologically described for the first time. We provide and clarify diagnostic characters to separate both sexes of the three Pipizella species occurring in Finland. We provide the first DNA barcode sequences for both sexes of P. obscura.

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Published
2026-06-05
How to Cite
Haarto, A., & Ståhls, G. (2026). The Finnish species of Pipizella Rondani, 1856 (Diptera, Syrphidae), with descriptions of the female sex of Pipizella certa Violovitsh, 1981 and Pipizella obscura van Steenis & Lucas, 2011. European Journal of Taxonomy, 1066(1). https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2026.1066.3290
Issue
Vol. 1066 (2026)
Section
Research article

Copyright (c) 2026 Antti Haarto, Gunilla Ståhls

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