New insights into Chinese fungus gnats: description and molecular identification of Falakia gen. nov. (Diptera: Sciaridae) with six new species

Falakia gen. nov. (type species: Falakia galactica gen. et sp. nov.) is described. The genus is close to Hirtipennia Mohrig & Menzel, 1997 and Sciara Meigen, 1803, and includes six new species: F. bicolor gen. et sp. nov., F. craniata gen. et sp. nov., F. galactica gen. et sp. nov., F. obscura gen. et sp. nov., F. varia gen. et sp. nov., and F. xizangensis gen. et sp. nov. The Palearctic Sciara flavomarginata (Mohrig & Mamaev, 1982) and Sciara modesta (Winnertz, 1867) are transferred to Falakia, whereas Trichosia longisetosa Yang, Zhang & Yang, 1998 syn. nov. is now considered a synonym of Falakia modesta (Winnertz, 1867) gen. et comb. nov. The identification of these species is supported by both morphological characters and sequence data obtained from cytochrome oxidase subunit one (COI) in the DNA barcode analysis. Furthermore, a worldwide checklist and a key to the currently known eight species of Falakia is provided.