Allocapnia starki Kondratieff & Kirchner, 2000

Stark, Bill P. & Lacey, Joe W., 2005, Larvae Of The Winter Stonefly Genus Allocapnia (Plecoptera: Capniidae) In Mississippi, Usa, Illiesia 1 (3), pp. 10-20 : 16

Allocapnia starki Kondratieff & Kirchner

Allocapnia starki Kondratieff & Kirchner (2000) . Holotype ♂, Kennison Creek , Claiborne Co., Mississippi

Allocapnia recta: Stark (1979) , not Claassen (1924)

Mississippi distribution

Allocapnia recta: Alford (1998) , male genitalia

Distribution. Known from Mississippi ( Kondratieff & Kirchner 2000) and the Florida Parishes of Louisiana ( Alford 1998. as A. recta ). Mississippi, populations have been reported from Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds, Lowndes, Marshall, Newton, Simpson, Tishomingo, Warren and Wilkinson counties mostly as A. recta ( Alford 1998; Kondratieff & Kirchner 2000; Stark 1979; Stark et al. 2000). New records are given for Jefferson, Lincoln, Scott and Smith counties.

Material examined. Mississippi: Claiborne Co., Ragsdale Creek , 23 November 2002, 13 ♂, 27 larvae, B. Stark, J. Lacey. Hinds Co., Jones Creek , Tom Cain Road, 28 December 2002, 4 ♂, 4 ♀, 35 larvae. Jefferson Co. , Clarks Creek , Hwy. 552, 1 January 2005, 5 ♂, 1 ♀, B. Stark. Jefferson Co., North Fork Coles Creek , Redlick Road, 1 January 2005, 13 ♂, 1 ♀, B. Stark. Lincoln Co., Fair River , Hwy. 84, 5 January 2005, 1 ♂, B. Stark. Lowndes Co., Mayhew Creek , Hwy. 12, 20 January 1996, 7 ♂, B. Stark, S. Tucker. Newton Co., Tallahatta Creek , Dean Road, 18 December 2002, 5 ♂, B. Stark, J. Lacey. Scott Co., Leaf River , Hwy. 501, 1 February 2003, 1 ♂, B. Stark. Scott Co., Leaf River , Sherman-Hill Road, 1 February 2003, 2 ♂, B. Stark. Smith Co., Ichusa Creek , Boyte Road, 1 February 2003, 2 ♂, B. Stark. Smith Co., Turkey Creek, Hwy. 501, 1 February 2003, 5 ♂, B. Stark .

Male genitalia. Previously described from scanning electron micrographs by Alford (1998) as A. recta , and by Kondratieff & Kirchner (2000). Dorsal arm of epiproct bent near midlength and paddle shaped in apical half; surface densely armed with posteriorly directed spines ( Figs. 17-18 ). Dorsal process of tergum 8 shaped somewhat like a horseshoe.

Pre-emergent larva. Body length 5.5-6.5 mm. General body color pale brown to tan, without distinctive pattern. Mandibles, laciniae and labium ( Fig. 19 ) typical of genus; galea armed on apex with a few acute spines; outer margin of galea without fringe of long setae ( Fig. 20 ). Developing lobe of male tergum 10 distal to cercal bases less than 1.5 times as long as tergum proximal to cercal bases ( Fig. 21 ); dorsal margin of developing male lobe straight; posterior margin slightly rounded to truncate in lateral aspect. Abdominal terga sparsely covered with thin, curled, clothing hairs and semi-erect bristles; erect bristles located at posterior tergal margins and at midlength ( Fig. 22 ); longest erect bristles about 0.4 times as long as tergum.

Diagnosis. Larvae of this species share with several species the presence of erect or semi-erect bristles at midlength of most terga. Among this group, A. starki larvae are similar to those of A. granulata by virtue of the truncate developing male tergal lobe but can usually be separated on the basis of multiple erect and semi-erect bristles visible in lateral aspect along the length of the abdominal terga of A. granulata ( Harper & Hynes 1971) , whereas in A. starki these occur at midlength and at the posterior tergal margins ( Fig. 22 ). The only Mississippi record of A. granulata is a single female collected at Potts Camp (Marshall Co.) by T.H. Frison in 1941, and no unambiguous larval samples of A. granulata were available for our study.

Figures

Figs. 17-22. Allocapnia starki. 17. Male terminalia. 18. Apex of epiproct. 19. Ventral aspect of larval head. 20. Ventral aspect of left galea. 21. Lateral aspect of larval male 10th tergum and basal cercal segments. 22. Lateral aspect of abdominal tergum 8. (ETB = erect tergal bristle, Ga = galea, Gl = glossa, Lc = lacinia, Lp = labial palp)