Pharmacus cochleatus nauclerus, Hegg & Morgan-Richards & Trewick, 2022

Hegg, Danilo, Morgan-Richards, Mary & Trewick, Steven A., 2022, High alpine sorcerers: revision of the cave wētā genus Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae: Macropathinae), with the description of six new species and three new subspecies, European Journal of Taxonomy 808 (1), pp. 1-58 : 30-31

Pharmacus cochleatus nauclerus subsp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D540A190-8DEE-4CDD-AA28-EA92A31550BF

Figs 1–2 , 6 , 17D , 18B

Diagnosis

A mid-sized cave wētā endemic to the Skippers Range in South Westland. Morphologically indistinguishable from Pharmacus cochleatus cochleatus comb. nov., but geographically separated and genetically distinct.

Pharmacus cochleatus nauclerus is sympatric with Pharmacus cristatus sp. nov. and with Notoplectron brewsterense comb. nov. It is easily differentiated from the former by its darker coloration and lack of prolateral apical spines on the fore and mid femora and from the latter by its darker colour, longer legs with more numerous spines on the hind tibiae and the presence of dorsal spines on the first hind tarsus segment.

Etymology

‘ Nauclērus ’ is Latin for ‘skipper’, after the Skippers Range in South Westland.

Material examined (see also Supp. file 1: Table S3)

Holotype NEW ZEALAND • ♂, adult; Westland (WD), Skippers Range; 44.50459° S, 168.12086° E; 1400 m a.s.l.; 7 Feb. 2019; D. Hegg leg.; on rock bluffs; night search; NMNZ AI.052288 (prev. MPN CW4412).

Paratype NEW ZEALAND • 1 ♀, adult; Westland (WD), Skippers Range High Point; 44.43914° S, 168.16515° E; 1600 m a.s.l.; 3 Feb. 2019; D. Hegg leg.; on scree and rock bluffs; night search; NMNZ AI.052289 (prev. MPN CW4376) .

Other material

NEW ZEALAND – Westland (WD) • 1 ♂, 1 ♀, 1 nymph; Skippers Range ; 44.42005° S, 168.15399° E; 1360 m a.s.l; 2 Feb. 2019; D. Hegg leg.; on rock bluffs; night search; MPN CW4366 , CW4378 , CW4413

• 1 nymph; same collection data as for paratype; GenBank: OM293711 ; MPN CW4363 • 1 ♀; Skippers Range ; 44.46821° S, 168.10095° E; 1200 m a.s.l.; 6 Feb. 2019; D. Hegg leg.; on rock bluffs; night search; GenBank: OM293713 ; MPN CW4374 • 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀; same collection data as for preceding; MPN CW4377 , CW4410 , CW4411 • 1 nymph; same collection data as for holotype; GenBank: OM293710 ; MPN CW4361 • 2 ♀♀; same collection data as for holotype; CW4379 , CW4380 .

Description

MEASUREMENTS. See Table 1 .

Pharmacus cochleatus nauclerus subsp. nov. is morphologically identical to Pharmacus cochleatus cochleatus comb. nov. See the description for the latter.

Figures

Fig. 1. A. Genetic relationships of cave wētā support monophyly of the genus Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure, 1893. Gene tree from mtDNA sequences (~1500 bp of COI) using Maximum Likelihood with 1000 bootstraps and Macropathus filifer Walker, 1869 to root the tree. B. Map of South Island of New Zealand, showing locations of Pharmacus specimens used in phylogenetic analyses (Figs 1A, 2). Colours correspond to different species. Two letter codes indicate the New Zealand entomological regions (Crosby et al. 1998). These codes are reported in the Material examined section for each species.

Fig. 2. Gene tree for the eight morphologically identified species of Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure, 1893 using Maximum Likelihood analysis of ~850 bp of mtDNA (COI) from 60 specimens ofPharmacus.

Fig. 6. Known distribution of cave wētā in the genus Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure, 1893 in the south of the South Island, New Zealand.

Fig. 17. Habitat of Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure, 1893. A. Mount Dick, Eyre Mountains. a. Rock bluffs at 1550 m a.s.l., collection locality of Pharmacus concinnus sp. nov. (MPN CW4472–4475, CW4501–4504, CW4592, CW4593). B. Dunstan, Dunstan Mountains. b. Rock tors at 1670 m a.s.l. collection locality of P. senex sp. nov. (MPN CW4381–4385, CW4402–4405, CW4506–4509). C. Spence Peak, Takitimu Mountains. c. North ridge, 1450 m a.s.l., collection locality of P. perfidus sp. nov. (NMNZ AI.052300, AI.052301; MPN CW4487, CW4489, CW4490, CW4494–4496, CW4498, CW4499, CW4553–4555). D. Skippers Range High Point, South Westland. d–e. Scree and rock bluffs around lake, 1600 m a.s.l., collection locality of P. cochleatus nauclerus subsp. nov. (NMNZ AI.052289, MPN CW4363) and of P. cristatus sp. nov. (NMNZ AI.052292, AI.052293; MPN CW4365, CW4376, CW4484, CW4485, CW4562).

Fig. 18. Map of South Island, New Zealand, showing the known distribution of cave wētā in the genus Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure, 1893. A–B. Solid shapes indicate material collected as part of this study; empty circles indicate additional locations of material examined by Richards (1972). B. Shapes represent different subspecies: dark blue circle = Pharmacus cochleatus cochleatus; light blue circle = Pharmacus cochleatus nauclerus subsp. nov.; diamond = Pharmacus cochleatus fiordensis subsp. nov.; triangle = Pharmacus cochleatus rawhiti subsp. nov.