Leuctra kazanciae, Murányi, Dávid & Vinçon, Gilles, 2017

Murányi, Dávid & Vinçon, Gilles, 2017, A new species of Leuctra from Turkey, and notes on Anatolian Rhabdiopteryx (Plecoptera: Leuctridae & Taeniopterygidae), Zootaxa 4243 (2), pp. 383-388 : 384-385

Leuctra kazanciae sp. n.

( Figs. 4–11 , 14 )

Type material. Holotype male: TURKEY: Artvin Province, Borçka , stream in beech-oak-hazelnut forest above a lake, SE of the city, 270m, N41°20.076' E41°42.439', 25.iv.2015 (loc.87), leg. L. Dányi, M.B. Kaydan ( HNHM: PLP 4914 ) . Paratypes: same locality and date: 1♂ 1♀ ( NTM) , 1♂ 1♀ (CGV), 1♂ 4♀ (HNHM: PLP4913).

Diagnosis. Macropterous in both sexes. Male terga I–VII weakly sclerotized and lacking a defined antecosta; tergum VIII with paired, rectangular process at the posterior edge, separated by medial membranous area half of segment's width; tergum IX with paired, triangular posteromedial sclerite; tergum X with wide, triangular posterior notch. Male epiproct large, rounded and only laterally sclerotized; paraproct medially indenting, apex gently curved and with sharp tip, its lateral expansion is drop-shaped and with acute tip; specillum longer than paraproct, tip sharp. Female subgenital plate large and uniformly pale brown, overhangs the segment, posterior margin rounded and slightly bilobed. Spermathecal sclerite large, posterior portion strongly sclerotized and with single pair of teeth.

Description. Small sized species, macropterous in both sexes. Forewing length: holotype 5.0 mm, male paratypes 5.0– 5.2 mm, female paratypes 5.6–6.0 mm; body length: holotype 4.2 mm, male paratypes 4.2–4.4 mm, female paratypes 4.8–5.4 mm. Setation generally short but dense and distinct. General colour brown, sclerotization weak. Head and scape brown, palpi and rest of antennae light brown. Pronotum light brown, as long as wide and having rounded corners, rugosities distinct. Teneral coloration consists of few occipital rugosities and a V-shaped dark patch anterior to anterior ocellus on the head, pronotal rugosities similar to matured specimens, meso- and metathoracal patterns consist of only a dark patch delimiting scutellum. Legs light brown, metatarsi darker. Wings hyaline, venation brown.

Male abdomen ( Figs. 4-8 ): Terga I–VI weakly sclerotized but not membranous, bear no distinct antecosta, transverse row of four pigmented spots hardly seen. Tergum VII with medial, weakly delimited membranous field laterally surrounded by longer setae, lacks defined antecosta. Tergum VIII also lacks antecosta but armed with strong, paired processes by the wide medial membranous area that fully divides the tergum but weakly delimited. The paired processes are rectangular and positioned at the posterior margin of the segment, the space between them as wide as one third of segment's width; lateral to the processes, semicircular membranous areas positioned. Tergum IX mostly membranous but with distinct antecosta, divided for about half the segment's width. Posteromedial sclerite consists of paired triangular portions. Anterior margin of tergum X bilobed anteriorly, posterior margin with rather wide but moderately deep triangular notch. Epiproct large, posteriorly rounded, sclerotized only at its sides, stalk short and not connected to tergum X. Cercus normal, covered with long setae. Sterna II–VIII normal, sternum IX bears well developed vesicle nearly as long as half segment's length, its width about half its length; posteromedial half of the sternum is delimited by light and weakly sclerotiozed area. Paraproct with moderately wide base and indenting medial section, apex gently curved in lateral view and tapering towards a sharp tip. Base of paraproct connected to a drop-shaped lateral expansion with outcurved, short but acute tip. Specillum longer than the paraproct, more curved in lateral view and ending in a robust but sharp tip.

Female abdomen ( Figs. 9–10 ): Terga I–VIII mostly membranous but with small lateral sclerites, transverse row of four pigmented spots hardly seen; tergum IX partly sclerotized, tergum X fully sclerotized. Sterna II–VII simple, lack anterior sclerites. Subgenital plate of tergum VIII large, not fused with other sclerites. It is covered by long setae, color uniformly pale brown; sides parallel but converging in the posterior third that overhangs the segment, the rounded posterior margin is slightly bilobed. Sternum IX without anteromedial notch but with two small anterior indentations laterally; posteromedial edge of the sclerite bears strong setae. Paraproct and cercus normal. Spermathecal sclerite large, ring-shaped with posterior portion strongly sclerotized and ending in single pair of small teeth; the teeth are connected to a further, lightly sclerotized portion of the spermatheca.

Affinities: On the basis of placement of male tergal projections, structure of male epiproct and paraprocts, the new species should belong to the hippopus species group. However, the short and rectangular processes on tergum VIII readily distinguish L. kazanciae males from all congeners. Additionally, the new species is characterized by the unique weak sclerotization and combination of other features mentioned in the diagnosis. No closely related species can be indicated on the basis of external morphology. The long but slightly bilobed subgenital plate of the female is not similar to other species of the hippopus group but more to certain members of the fusca group, e.g. L. albida Kempny, 1899 or L. bronislawi Sowa, 1970 . The strong lateral setae on male terga VII–VIII may indicate a relationship with the phylogenetically isolated L. aculeata Zwick, 1982 .

Distribution and ecology. The species was collected at a single locality in Artvin Province of the Eastern Pontus ( Fig. 11 ). The type locality is a small forest stream of low elevation but surrounded by high mountain ranges ( Fig. 14 ), and the species was the only stonefly collected from this habitat.

Etymology. The species is named after Prof. Nilgün Kazanci, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey, in recognition of her long work on Anatolian Plecoptera and Ephemeroptera. The specific epithet is used as the genitive of a noun of female gender.

Other Plecoptera collected during the László Dányi and Mehmet Bora Kaydan Expedition, spring 2015 in Turkey

None of these represent new province records (Darilmaz et al. 2015), but are new localities of several of the rare species.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Distribution of Leuctra kazanciae sp. n., and localities of Rhabdiopteryx Klapálek, 1902 in Turkey.

FIGURES 4 – 10. Terminalia of Leuctra kazanciae sp. n.; paratypes, Turkey, Artvin Province, Borçka— 4: male terminalia, dorsal view; 5: male terminalia, lateral view; 6: male terminalia, ventral view; 7: male paraprocts and specilla, oblique laterocaudal view; 8: male paraprocts and specilla, ventrocaudal view; 9: female terminalia, ventral view; 10: female terminalia, lateral view— scale 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 12 – 14. Habitats of the species reported— 12: Aydin Province, Akçaköy, loc. 24, habitat of Rhabdiopteryx cf. doiranensis Ikonomov, 1983 and Nemoura taurica Zhiltzova, 1967; 13: Aydin Province, Akçaköy, loc. 23, habitat of R. cf. doiranensis and Isoperla lesbica Zwick, 1978; 14: Artvin Province, Borçka, loc. 87, type locality of Leuctra kazanciae sp. n.