Papuanatula ( Papuanatula ) cukiclara Kaltenbach, Kovács & Gattolliat, 2025

Kaltenbach, Thomas, Kovács, Tibor & Gattolliat, Jean-Luc, 2025, New species of Papuanatula Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty, 1999 from New Guinea (Ephemeroptera, Baetidae) with focus on Batanta Island, ZooKeys 1259, pp. 1-55 : 1-55

Papuanatula ( Papuanatula) cukiclara Kaltenbach, Kovács & Gattolliat sp. nov.

Figs 9 , 10 , 11

Type material.

Holotype. Indonesia • larva; West Papua, Batanta Island, Kalijakut River ; 00°52'27"S, 130°37'52"E; 420 m; 09. ii. 2024; leg. T. Kovács; on slide; GBIFCH 00975889 ; 2024-12, EPHTYP-4; MM . Paratypes. 9 larvae; partly same data as holotype; 20. ii. 2025; leg. T. Kovács; 3 in alcohol; GBIFCH 01582007 , GBIFCH 01582009 , GBIFCH 001582010 ; MZL; 6 in alcohol; 2025-18.a, EPHTYP-5; MM • 3 larvae; West Papua, Batanta Island, right side stream of Kalijakut River , side spring area; 00°52'27"S, 130°37'51"E; 432 m; 20. ii. 2025; leg. T. Kovács; 1 in alcohol; GBIFCH 01582006 ; MZL; 2 in alcohol; 2025-18.b, EPHTYP-6; MM • 4 larvae; West Papua, Batanta Island, right side stream of Kalijakut River ; 00°52'15"S, 130°37'45"E; 545 m; 21. ii. 2025; leg. T. Kovács; 1 on slide; GBIFCH 01221838 ; 1 in alcohol; GBIFCH 01582005 ; MZL; 2 in alcohol; 2025-19, EPHTYP-7; MM • 3 larvae; West Papua, Batanta Island, Kalijakut River ; 00°53'03"S, 130°38'13"E; 182 m; 19. ii. 2025; leg. T. Kovács; 1 on slide; GBIFCH 01221837 ; 1 in alcohol; GBIFCH 01582008 ; MZL; 1 in alcohol; 2025-17, EPHTYP-8; MM .

Diagnosis.

Larva. The following combination of characters distinguishes P. cukiclara sp. nov. from other species of Papuanatula s. str.: body dorsally without row of long, fine, simple setae along midline; metanotum and abdominal terga I – VIII posteromedially with conspicuous, long, pointed protuberance, slightly bent posteriad; femur anteriorly with irregular wedge-shaped blank in basal part, blank area in distal part, and blank streak along outer margin; paracercus with five or six segments.

Description.

Larva (Figs 9 – 11 ). Body length 2.7–3.9 mm, cerci ~ 2 × body length.

Cuticular coloration (Figs 9 a – c , 11 c ). Head, thorax and abdomen dorsally pale brown; thorax with indistinct pattern; abdominal terga V, VI, and X dorsally and laterally brighter, terga III and IV laterally brighter. Head, thorax and abdomen ventrally pale brown. Legs pale brown, femur anteriorly with irregular wedge-shaped blank in basal part, blank area in distal part, and blank streak along outer margin. Caudalii ecru.

Hypodermal coloration (Fig. 9 a, b ). Abdominal terga with fine dark brown transverse band along posterior margins.

Head. Antenna (Fig. 10 i ). Length ~ 1.5 × head length. Flagellum distally with brown dots.

Developing turbinate eyes in last instar male larva unknown.

Labrum (Fig. 10 a, b ). Length ~ 0.5 × maximum width, laterally convex. Dorsal, sub-marginal arc with ~ 22 feathered setae.

Right mandible (Fig. 10 d ). Margin between prostheca and mola straight, smooth. Otherwise, as typical for the subgenus.

Left mandible (Fig. 10 c ). Margin between prostheca and mola straight, smooth. Otherwise, as typical for the subgenus.

Hypopharynx (Fig. 10 f ). As typical for the genus.

Maxilla (Fig. 10 g ). Maxillary palp approx. as long as galea-lacinia; palp segment II approx. as long as segment I. Otherwise, as typical for the genus.

Labium (Fig. 10 e ). Paraglossa dorsally with two spine-like setae near inner, distolateral margin. Labial palp with segment I 0.7 × length of segments II and III combined. Segment II without distomedial protuberance, dorsally with row of four spine-like setae near outer, distolateral margin. Segment III slightly pentagonal, pointed, 0.8 × length of segment II. Otherwise, as typical for the genus.

Thorax. Sterna. Protuberances not developed.

Terga (Figs 9 a , 11 c ). Metanotum posteromedially with stout, pointed protuberance.

Legs (Fig. 11 a – c ). Ratio of leg segments: fore leg 0.9: 1.0: 0.3: 0.2, middle leg 1.0: 1.0: 0.3: 0.2, and hind leg 1.0: 1.0: 0.3: 0.2. Femur. Length ~ 3 × maximum width; surface rough, denticulate on brown areas. Claw with one row of seven or eight denticles, and one posterior seta. Otherwise, as typical for the subgenus.

Abdomen. Terga (Figs 9 a, b , 11 h ). Abdominal terga I – VIII posteromedially with conspicuous, long, pointed protuberance, slightly bent posteriad; Posterior margin of terga: I smooth, without spines, II – IX with short, rounded spines, apically carrying needle-like denticles.

Tergalii (Fig. 10 h ). Present on terga II – VII. Oblique ovoid; tracheation poorly developed, pigmentation of tracheae limited to main trunk; margins smooth, with short, fine, simple setae. Tergalius II as long as abdominal terga III and IV combined, tergalius IV as long as terga V and VI combined, tergalius VII reaching middle of tergum IX.

Paraproct (Fig. 11 e ). Posterior margin expanded, with minute denticles in distal part.

Caudalii (Fig. 11 f, g ) Cerci without swimming setae. Paracercus with six segments.

Pose of subimaginal gonostyli under larval cuticle. As typical for the subgenus (folding in “ Labiobaetis ” - type).

Subimago. Unknown.

Imago. Unknown.

Egg. Unknown.

Biological aspects.

This species is known from the Kalijakut river system (Fig. 29 a, b, d type locality), occurring at elevations of 180– 545 m. The larvae co-occur with P. batanlenos sp. nov., P. batantaraja sp. nov., and P. longabranchias sp. nov.

Etymology.

The species name is composed of “ cuki ”, meaning cute in Hungarian, and “ clara ”, meaning “ bright ” in Latin. The latter refers to the bright colour of the larva, especially on parts of the abdomen.

Distribution.

New Guinea, Batanta Island (Fig. 30 ).

Figures

Figure 9. Papuanatula (Papuanatula) cukiclara sp. nov., larva, habitus. a. Dorsal view; b. Lateral view; c. Ventral view. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Figure 10. Papuanatula (Papuanatula) cukiclara sp. nov., larva. a. Labrum; b. Labrum, submarginal arc of setae; c. Left mandible; d. Right mandible; e. Labium; f. Hypopharynx and superlinguae; g. Maxilla; h. Tergalius IV; i. Head. Scale bars: 100 µm (i), 20 µm (a, c – g), 10 µm (b, h).

Figure 11. Papuanatula (Papuanatula) cukiclara sp. nov., larva. a. Hind leg; b. Fore tarsus, claw; c. Fore femur, anterior surface (brown areas); d. Abdominal terga; e. Paraproct; f. Paracercus; g. Cercus; h. Abdomen. Scale bars: 100 µm (h), 50 µm (a), 20 µm (f), 10 µm (b – e, g).

Figure 29. Habitats: P. batantaraja sp. nov. (a. Type locality, b); P. cukiclara sp. nov. (a, b, d. Type locality); P. cataracta sp. nov. (c. type locality); P. batanlenos sp. nov. (a, d. Type locality, e, f); P. horvathrobi sp. nov. (e); P. longabranchias sp. nov. (d. Type locality, f).

Figure 30. Distribution of Papuanatula species: yellow dots: known species (Kaltenbach et al. 2025); orange dot: Papuanatula arfak sp. nov. (present study); red dots: species from Batanta – P. batantaraja sp. nov., P. cukiclara sp. nov., P. cataracta sp. nov., P. batanlenos sp. nov., P. horvathrobi sp. nov., P. longabranchias sp. nov. (present study).