Tyrrhenoleuctra hynesi, Luzón-Ortega & Vannucchi & López-Rodríguez & Fochetti & Figueroa, 2023

Luzón-Ortega, Julio Miguel, Vannucchi, Patrizia Elena, López-Rodríguez, Manuel Jesús, Fochetti, Romolo & Figueroa, José Manuel Tierno De, 2023, What do molecular data and vibrational communication tell us about the taxonomy of the genus Tyrrhenoleuctra Consiglio, 1957 (Plecoptera: Leuctridae) in Spain?, Zootaxa 5315 (4), pp. 329-338 : 334-335

Tyrrhenoleuctra hynesi sp. n. Luzón-Ortega, Vannucchi & Tierno de Figueroa

( Fig. 5A–D )

Type material: Holotype male: Spain, Málaga province , Parque Natural Montes de Málaga, Arroyo de Chaperas, 36.825949° N 4.361813° W, 09-IV-2017, Luzón-Ortega leg. Paratypes: same locality, date and collector, 2 males and 2 females ; Spain, Granada province , Barranco de Luna, 36.935541° N 3.620175° W, 12-IV-2017, Luzón-Ortega leg., 1 male, 4 females .

Holotype (1 male) and 5 paratypes (1 male and 1 female from Málaga province , and 1 male and 2 females from Granada province ) are deposited in the Entomology Collection of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales , CSIC, Madrid, Spain [Catalogue numbers: MNCN_Ent 332123 (holotype) and MNCN_ Ent 332124 to 332128 (paratypes)]. The remaining 4 paratypes (1 male and 1 female from Málaga province , and 2 females from Granada province ) are deposited in the J.M. Tierno de Figueroa’s collection at Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Granada (Granada, Spain).

Other material referred: Other material from Spain that could be considered as representative of T. hynesi sp. n. considering its distribution and previously identified as Tyrrhenoleuctra minuta or Tyrrhenleuctra cf. minuta :

Málaga province, Montes de Málaga, 28-III-1959, 1 female ( Aubert 1963); River Almargen, 490m. 28-II to 3-III-1984, 13 nymphs (García de Jalón & González del Tánago 1986; González del Tánago & García de Jalón 1987); Montes de Málaga, Arroyo de Chaperas, 650 m a.s.l., 30SUF770778, 9-II-1997, 1 female ( Sánchez-Ortega et al. 2002); Granada province, Barranco de Luna, Las Albuñuelas, UTM: 30SVF 448883, 680 m a.s.l., 7-V-2003, 1 female ( López-Rodríguez et al. 2003). Specimens reported from Arroyo de Chaperas in Sánchez-Ortega et al. (2002) and from Barranco de Luna in López-Rodríguez et al. (2003) are deposited in the J.M. Tierno de Figueroa’s collection at the Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Granada (Granada, Spain).

Etymology: The species is named after Dr. H.B.N. Hynes for his great contribution to the knowledge of stoneflies and stream ecology.

Diagnosis: As previously reported for other Tyrrhenoleuctra species (Fochetti et al. 2009), there are no morphological characteristics that could be used to distinguish this species from the others. Nevertheless, a brief morphological description with some biometrical data of both males and females is presented below.

Male body length: 3.6–4.7 mm (N= 4); female body length: 5.4–6.1 mm (N= 6). Body color brown, slightly clearer in the pronotum, and with distal part of the abdominal segments darker than the proximal part. Legs and antennae brown. Male forewing length: 3.9–4.7 mm (macropterous) (N= 4); female forewing length: 6.0– 6.6 mm (macropterous) (N= 6). Holotype male: total length: 4.7 mm. forewing: 4.7 mm. Both male and female with tergites and sternites I to VIII not fused and simple cerci with remnants of a distal segment ( Figs. 5C, 5D ). Male with a rounded vesicle (0.14 mm diameter, N= 4) on the ninth sternite ( Fig. 5C ). Epiproct heart or triangular shaped in rear posterior-dorsal view and pear shape in lateral view ( Figs. 5B & 5A , respectively). Male paraprocts formed by a sclerotized basal band from which long and slender styli and specilla emerge and are surrounded in the distal part by the epiproct ( Figs. 5A, 5B, 5C ).

Female genital plate with a small central prominence at the posteromedial edge resembling that of other Tyrrhenoleuctra species.

Affinities and remarks: Tyrrhenoleuctra hynesi sp. n. can be distinguished from the other species of the genus by molecular analyses and behavioral studies of the male drumming call. From a biometric point of view, all studied males of T. hynesi sp. n. were clearly as macropterous as are T. antoninoi and T. zavattarii . Regarding the body size, T. hynesi sp. n. has a total length within the range recorded in all other species, although T. tangerina and T. zavattarii are usually slightly larger.

Habitat and distribution: the currently known distribution of Tyrrhenoleuctra hynesi sp. n. is restricted to the central part of the Betic Mountains (Málaga and Granada provinces, Southern Spain). This species has been found in small temporary streams from 490 to 680 m a.s.l. It is likely to utilize drought resistant life history attributes to persist in these seasonally dry streams, as previously recorded in other species of the same genus (López-Rodríguez et al. 2009).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Tyrrhenoleuctra hynesi sp. n. Tip of the holotype male abdomen in lateral view (A), dorsal view (B) and ventral view (C); tip of a paratype female abdomen in ventral view (D).