Tortopus bellus Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty

Molineri, Carlos, 2010, A cladistic revision of Tor top us Needham & Murphy with description of the new genus Tortopsis (Ephemeroptera: Polymitarcyidae), Zootaxa 2481, pp. 1-36 : 15-19

Tortopus bellus Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty

Tortopus bellus Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty 1996: 24 .

Material ( FAMU): 1 male (genitalia on slide 1116) and 1 female imagos from Costa Rica: Heredia, Est. Biol. La Selva, río Puerto Viejo, 19-VI-1986, Holzenthal, Heyn & Armitage cols. Attempts to borrow the holotype male from Purdue Entomological Collection were not successful. Type locality: Costa Rica, Heredia (no more locality data).

Male imago. Length (mm): body, 10.5 (8.3 in original description); fore wing, 12.9 (10.5 in original description); hind wing, 6.2. General coloration yellowish brown. Head yellowish brown shaded black on dorsum almost entirely, shaded heavier between ocelli. Antennae yellowish shaded gray on scape, black on pedicel, flagellum hyaline. Thorax orangeish brown shaded black mainly on pronotum. Pleura and sterna slightly paler shaded black on mesofurcasternal membrane and metasternum. Fore legs yellowish shaded with black except at articulations of segments and claws, pale; legs II–III whitish yellow shaded gray on femora and tibiae. Wings membrane hyaline translucent, veins brownish yellow, lighter toward apex. Abdomen yellowish completely shaded brownish gray except some pale markings, segment X slightly paler than the rest. Genitalia ( Figs. 10–12 ): sternum IX shaded with black on median 1/3, stronger on median furrow; pedestals and short parastyli ( Fig. 12 ) yellowish translucent; forceps whitish yellow shaded almost completely with black; penes translucent yellowish white, apex rounded ( Fig. 11 ).

Female imago. Length (mm): body (shrunken abdomen), 10.5; fore wing, 16.0; hind wing, 6.9; cerci, 4.5. As in male, exceptions follow. Antennae with scape and pedicel brownish black. Thorax shaded more markedly with brownish gray. Legs yellowish white shaded brownish, turning lighter towards apex. Wings as male except usual sexual dimorphism (thicker veins). Abdomen yellowish strongly shaded brownish gray. Sternum VIII shaded strongly with black, lighter anteriorly; sockets blackish, relatively short and with more or less transverse opening ( Fig. 13 ), anterior depressed area paler. Cerci whitish.

Discussion and diagnosis. A short description of the male is given to complete the original description by Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty (1996) with some new characters for the group. The female adult is described for the first time. Tortopus bellus can be distinguished from other species in the genus by: 1) fore wing length 10.5–12.9 mm (female 16.0 mm); 2) parastyli very short and pointed ( Fig. 10, 12 ); 3) ventral knob relatively small ( Fig. 12 ); 4) penes relatively wide ( Fig. 10 ); 5) female with sockets on s. VIII relatively wide and with transverse opening ( Fig. 13 ); and 6) a relatively dark species, dorsum of head almost entirely shaded black. Male genitalia of Tortopus bellus is very similar to Tortopus harrisi , but in T. bellus the knob at the base of forceps is reduced, pedestals have a widely rounded posteromedial corner (opposite to parastylus), forceps are completely shaded black and penes are much wider. Further differences between both species include: a darker coloration in T. bellus with abdominal terga and sterna shaded strongly with brownish gray (sterna unmarked in T. harrisi ), and wing venation without short marginal intercalaries in MA and R regions ( T. harrisi holotype presents 3 of these veins).

Figures

FIGURES 10 – 13. Tortopus bellus: 10, male genitalia, v. v.; 11, details of apex of penes; 12, detail of pedestal, v. v.; 13, sockets on female abdominal sternum VIII.