Troglophilus neglectus, VLASINENSIS

Karaman, Ivo, Hammouti, Nasera, Pavićević, Dragan, Kiefer, Andreas, Horvatović, Mladen & Seitz, Alfred, 2011, The genus Troglophilus Krauss, 1879 (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae) in the west Balkans, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163 (4), pp. 1035-1063 : 1043-1045

TROGLOPHILUS NEGLECTUS VLASINENSIS : HARZ, 1969

Material examined: See Appendix.

Diagnosis: Medium to large sized species. Male body length ranges between 13.5– 20 mm; females, 14–24 mm. Body colour dark brown, light brown to light green marbled. Males tenth tergite with narrow, partially square, medial lobe which is divided by a central deep depression in two triangular-shaped lobes ( Fig. 6A–D ). Female tenth abdominal tergite with two paramedial, sharp spine-like protrusions ( Fig. 6E–F ). The titillator distally protruded with abruptly narrowed obtuse tip ( Fig. 7A ); in lateral view, distally voluminous ( Fig. 7B ). The ovipositor short and wide, length ranges between 8–11 mm; the widest point is in its proximal third ( Fig. 12I ), ventral margin almost straight.

Distribution: This species is widely distributed over a large part of the Balkans ( Fig. 8 ) and neighbouring parts of Austria and Italy. We can roughly distinguish two relatively compact units of its distribution range. The first one extends from northern parts of Macedonia and southern parts of Serbia to northeast Serbia and western-most parts of Bulgaria. The southern distribution borders are still not clear; it is possible that the species is present in Albania as well.

The second unit comprises western-most parts of the Balkans and neighbouring regions of Austria and Italy. The species is present in western Bosnia, in Croatia from northern Dalmatia to the north and west, and widely in Slovenia. The eastern-most area of this unit of the species distribution range is in Slavonia and western Bosnia. However, the distribution pattern in Bosnia is still unclear. The species is not present in western parts of Serbia, in Montenegro, in Herzegovina, and in south and central Dalmatia. It seems that it is absent from east Bosnia too. Southern populations appear only at higher altitudes. There are no data on the sympatric appearance of this species with other Troglophilus species in the eastern unit of its distribution range. In the western unit, sympatry with T. cavicola is very common.

Remarks: The citation of this species from the Imanthia Cave near Nousa in Greece most probably refers to the species T. zorae sp. nov. This was concluded according to the illustration of a male tenth tergite in Maran (1958).

Morphological characteristics of T. neglectus vlasinensis from south-east Serbia, used for differentiation in Maran (1958), are in the boundaries of the variability of T. neglectus . Troglophilus neglectus neglectus and T. neglectus vlasinensis share the same haplotype, T neg HT1, which also suggests synonymization of these taxa.

After examination of a large number of specimens, we can say with certainty that the populations of T. neglectus in eastern Serbia are parthenogenetic. We suppose that it is the same in the neighbouring parts of Bulgaria where this species is present. As females dominate in the material from the south populations, this led us to the supposition that parthenogenetic populations also prevail in these areas (the only males were collected from a cave north of Skopje). The assumption that the marginal populations are often parthenogenetic imposes a conclusion that these areas were secondarily inhabited from the west. However, in keeping with the recent distribution, we conclude quite the opposite. The primary distribution range of this species must be related to the southern parts of Serbia and neighbouring areas. The explanation for such an opinion is given in the Discussion.

Figures

Figure 6. A–F, Troglophilus neglectus, tenth tergite, dorsal view: A, male 16.5 mm (Bihac´, Bosnia); B, male 16.5 mm (Kranj, Slovenia); C, male 15.5 mm (Banjani, Macedonia); D, male 17 mm (Smarna Gora, Slovenia); E, female 17 mm (Blace, Macedonia); F, female 15.5 mm (Kopajkošare, Serbia).

Figure 7. A–B, Troglophilus neglectus, male 17 mm, phallus with titillator (arrow) (Smarna gora, Slovenia): A, dorsal view; B, lateral view. C–D, Troglophilus ovuliformis, male 20 mm, phallus with titillator (arrow) (G. Seoca, Montenegro): C, dorsal view; D, lateral view. E, T. ovuliformis, male 20 mm, titillator (arrow), dorsal view (Island Pag, Croatia). F, T. ovuliformis, male 20 mm, titillator (arrow), dorsal view (D. Seoca, Montenegro).

Figure 8. The geographical distribution of Troglophilus neglectus (arrows indicate supposed directions of spreading). (ITA-Italy; A-Austria; SLO-Slovenia; CRO-Croatia; BIH-Bosnia and Herzegovina; SRB-Serbia; MNE-Montenegro; BUL- Bulgaria; ALB-Albania; MK-Macedonia; GRE-Greece).

Figure 12. A–C, Troglophilus cavicola: A, male 18 mm, tenth tergite, dorsal view (Bjeloševina, Montenegro); B, female 18.5 mm, tenth tergite, dorsal view (Bukovik, Macedonia); C, male 18 mm, phallus with titillator (arrow), lateral view (Bjeloševina, Montenegro). D–I ovipositor, lateral view: D, Troglophilus lazaropolensis, female 16.5 mm (Lazaropole, Macedonia); E, Troglophilus cavicola, female 18.5 mm (Bjeloševina, Montenegro); F, Troglophilus zorae sp. nov., paratype female 18 mm (Matka, Macedonia); G, Troglophilus brevicauda, female 15 mm (Olovo, Bosnia); H, Troglophilus ovuliformis, female 19.5 mm (D. Seoca, Montenegro); I, Troglophilus neglectus, female 15 mm (N. Breznica, Macedonia).