Saussurembia Davis, 1940

Szumik, Claudia, Pereyra, Veronica, Szumik, Victoria E. Goloboff, Costa-Pinto, Paula Jessica & Juarez, Maria Laura, 2022, Embioptera (Insecta) from Brazil: New species and a taxonomic update, ZooKeys 1088, pp. 129-171 : 129

Genus Saussurembia Davis, 1940

Saussurella Davis, 1939b: 573, type species Embia ruficollis de Saussure, 1896 by original designation.

Saussurembia Davis, 1940a: 191, for Saussurella Bolívar, 1887 preoccupied name; Davis 1940d: 537, as a genus of Anisembiidae ; Ross 1940: 647, as a genus of Mesembiinae ( Anisembiidae ); Ross 1944: 435, redescription of the genus; Ross 1992: 126, Saussurembia davisi Ross as new name for Saussurembia ruficollis Davis, specimen type misidentified by Davis; Ross 2003: 15, redescription of the genus; Edgerly et al. 2007: 388, discussion of the limits of the genus; Szumik et al. 2008: 999-1001, redelimitation of the genus and cladistic analysis-phylogeny; Miller 2009: 7, 22, catalog and discussion, synonym; Szumik et al. 2019: 9, tympanal hearing, silk ejectors, leg chaetotaxy, phylogeny.

Stenembia Ross, 1972: 139, type species Stenembia parenensis Ross, 1896 by original designation; Edgerly et al. 2007: 388, as probable junior synonym of Saussurembia Davis; Szumik et al. 2008: 999-1001, as probable junior synonym of Saussurembia Davis; new junior synonym of Saussurembia Davis.

Diagnosis.

Md acute and small, LC1 symmetrical (processes and setae absent), Hp elongate, Ep narrow (stick-like), wing venation (only veins Rs + Ma and Rs sclerotized and cross veins absent except between R1 and Rs), 10Lp1 and 10Rp1 simple, laminate narrow lobe.

Composition and distribution.

Given that Stenembia Ross, 1972 is proposed here as junior synonym of Saussurembia Davis, 1940 (see arguments below under phylogenetic relationships), currently the genus includes seven species: Saussurembia davisi Ross, 1992 from Costa Rica, Saussurembia albicauda Ross, 1992 from Panama, Saussurembia calypso Edgerly et al., 2007 from Trinidad; Saussurembia symmetrica Ross, 1944 from Colombia; Saussurembia perenensis (Ross, 1972) from Peru; Saussurembia exigua (Ross, 1972) from Brazil and the new species described below, also from Brazil.

Distribution.

Central and South America.

Relationships.

The genus Saussurembia was considered closely related to Stenembia based on the combination of characters discussed and described by Edgerly et al. (2007) for the species Saussurembia calypso which share with Saussurembia the presence of a sclerotized line starting from the inner margin of 10Lp1, the ventrally curved 10Rp1 and the basally broad 10Lp1 with acute apex and, with Stenembia the well-defined Lpp and Rpp, the dorsally curved Lpp and the directed leftward Hp ( Edgerly et al. 2007). Saussurembia and Stenembia share many diagnostic characters as Md acute and small, LC1 symmetrical (processes and setae absent), Hp elongate, Ep narrow (stick-like), wing venation (Rs + Ma and Rs are the only veins sclerotized) and the general shape of 10Lp1 and 10Rp1 (with small differences in size and degree of sclerotization) ( Edgerly et al. 2007). Thus, one genus is paraphyletic with respect to the other, being Saussurembia the autapomorphic form ( Edgerly et al. 2007).

Subsequently, in the phylogenetic analysis of Embioptera ( Szumik et al. 2008), the two analyzed species of Saussurembia , S. davisi , and S. calypso , were closely related to two species of Stenembia , S. perenensis , and S. exigua , both genera forming a supported clade. In the last phylogenetic analysis of the Order ( Szumik et al. 2019), adding new evidence from legs (ultrastructure of chaetotaxy and the chordotonal organ), the genera continued clustered ( Szumik et al. 2019: 9). The only argument used by Ross (1972: 140) when he described Stenembia is that the genus pertains to South America and Saussurembia to Central America. Because the differences between both genera are minimal, we propose Saussurembia Davis as senior synonym of Stenembia Ross.