Teloganella gurhaensis, Agnihotri & Chandra & Shukla & Singh & Mehrotra, 2020

Agnihotri, Priya, Chandra, Kajal, Shukla, Anumeha, Singh, Hukam & Mehrotra, Rakesh C., 2020, First fossil record of a nymph (Ephemeroptera, Teloganellidae) from the Indian subcontinent, Zootaxa 4838 (1), pp. 137-142 : 138-141

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4838.1.8
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8ED941B5-EB3D-45BB-8307-E5D6836DFF95
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4404241
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/713D87D9-FFC0-FFAC-FF24-F954061CFDFD
treatment provided by	Plazi (2020-12-30 18:15:19, last updated 2024-11-28 23:11:06)
scientific name	Teloganella gurhaensis
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Teloganella gurhaensis sp. nov.

( Figs 2 View FIGURE 2 , 3 View FIGURE 3 )

Diagnosis. Body with defined proportions, flattened pronotum and mesonotum, eyes widely separated, fore-femora greatly expanded, claws without denticles, fore-femora margined with bristle-like setae, elongated abdomen, three caudal filaments well-developed.

Holotype. BSIP specimen no. 41813, Late Paleocene-early Eocene, Palana Formation, Gurha lignite mine, Bikaner district , Rajasthan.

Etymology. The specific name is given after the locality Gurha, where the fossil was discovered.

Description. Nymph impression in dorsal position; satisfactory preservation quality of the specimen; body 8.4 mm in length; head 1 mm long with lateral location of eyes and fringe of setae over the head capsule, antennae visible; prothorax 0.6 mm divided into two lobes, hard sclerite impression over the dorsal surface; fore-femora wider than long (FF L - 0.92 mm; FF R - 0.8 mm), setae on the inner and outer margins of femur and tibia, single tarsal claw without denticles; mesothorax 1.4 mm, forewing pads slightly visible, left and right mid-tibia margined with setae; abdomen 3.4 mm, segments I to X visible, Xth segment bearing 3 caudal filaments (cerci- 2 mm), filaments 1/4 th of the body length, median filament visible, slender with no spines; location of gills not discernible.

Affinities. The fossil exhibits morphological similarities with modern Teloganella studied from India and Malaysia. Expanded fore-femora are considered a convergence trait that has evolved through diverse taxa of Pannota ( McCafferty & Wang 2000) and also justifies its convergence with Teloganodidae . Row of well-developed broad setae on the larval fore-femora distinguishes the Teloganellidae from the other families of Ephemeroptera ( Kluge 2004) . This trait also suggests co-relation with the Tricorythidae and is also considered as a homophyly (resemblance due to common ancestry) both in Pannota and other mayflies under similar environmental conditions. Teloganellidae belongs to the superfamily Ephemerelloidea which also encloses Ephemerellidae , Melanemerellidae , Teloganodidae and Tricorythidae ; however, the affinities and the position of Teloganella are still unsolved ( Sites et al. 2001, Soldan 2001, Sartori et al. 2003, Kluge 2004, Ogden et al. 2009).

A number of fossil insects from the early Eocene amber belonging to different families have been described from the Indian subcontinent ( Grimaldi & Singh 2012, Stebner et al. 2017, Zakrzewska et al. 2017, Kania et al. 2018, and reference therein). The present fossil is the first record of a mayfly from the Indian subcontinent, and is described as Teloganella gurhaensis Agnihotri et al. , sp. nov.

References

Grimaldi, D. A. & Singh, H. (2012) The extinct genus Pareuthychaeta in Eocene ambers (Diptera: Schizophora: Ephydroidea). The Canadian Entomologist, 144, 17 - 28. https: // doi. org / 10.4039 / tce. 2012.5

Kania, I., Krzeminski, W., Stebner, F. & Singh, H. (2018) The first representative of Tipulomorpha (Diptera) from Early Eocene Cambay amber (India). Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 107, 263 - 269. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 1755691017000433

Kluge, N. J. (2004) The phylogenetic system of Ephemeroptera. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 456 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / 978 - 94 - 007 - 0872 - 3

McCafferty, W. P. & Wang, T. Q. (2000) Phylogenetic systematics of the major lineages of Pannote mayflies (Ephemeroptera, Pannota). Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 126, 9 - 101.

Ogden, T. H., Gattolliat, J. L., Sartori, M., Staniczek, A. H., Soldan, T. & Whiting, M. F. (2009) Towards a new paradigm in mayfly phylogeny (Ephemeroptera): combined analysis of morphological and molecular data. Systematic Entomology, 34, 616 - 634. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / j. 1365 - 3113.2009.00488. x

Sartori, M., Derleth, P. & Gattolliat, J. L. (2003) New data about the mayflies (Ephemeroptera) from Borneo. in: Gaino, E. (Ed.), Research update on Ephemeroptera & Plecoptera. Universita di Perugia, Perugia, pp. 403 - 406.

Sites, R. W., Wang, T., Permkam, S. & Hubbard, M. D. (2001) The mayfly genera (Ephemeroptera) of southern Thailand. Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society, 49, 243 - 268.

Soldan, T. (2001) Status of the systematic knowledge and priorities in Ephemeroptera studies: the Oriental Region. In: Dominguez, E. (Ed.), Trends in Research in Ephemeroptera & Plecoptera. Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, New York, pp. 53 - 65. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / 978 - 1 - 4615 - 1257 - 8 _ 9

Stebner, F., Szadziewski, R., Singh, H., Gunkel, S. & Rust, J. (2017) Biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from Cambay amber indicate that the Eocene fauna of the Indian subcontinent was not isolated. PLoS ONE, 12 (1), e 0169144. https: // doi. org / 10.1371 / journal. pone. 0169144

Zakrzewska, M., Stebner, F., Mateusz, P., Singh, H. & Gilka, W. (2017) A peculiar leg structure in the first non-biting midge de- scribed from Cambay amber, India (Diptera: Chironomidae). Earth and Environmental Science, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 107 (2 - 3), 255 - 261. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 1755691017000421

Figures

FIGURE 2. A–D. Teloganella gurhaensis Agnihotri et al., sp. nov. A. Fossil insect in reflected light. B. Enlarged view of the upper half showing fore-femora, mid-femora and mid-tibia. C. Enlarged head portion with setae (red arrows). D. Enlarged lower half with abdominal segments (red arrows) and terminal filaments (black arrows).