Leentvaaria palpalis Demoulin, 1966

Domínguez, Eduardo, Grillet, Maria-Eugenia, Nieto, Carolina, Molineri, Carlos & Guerrero, Edmundo, 2014, Ephemeroptera from the Venezuelan Guayanas´s Uplands: Families Leptophlebiidae, Euthyplociidae and Oligoneuriidae, Zootaxa 3827 (3), pp. 301-317 : 306

Leentvaaria palpalis Demoulin

Demoulin, 1966: 14; Domínguez et al., 2001: 314.

Material. Venezuela, Edo Bolívar, Kamá river 5º 25’ 11’’N – 61º 13’ 05’’W, 1035 m , 20/ III /2006 , 1 nymph. Yuruaní river , 5º 05’ 32’’N – 61º 05’ 47’’W, 880 m, 25/XI/2005, 1 nymph. Parupa river , 5º 40’ 49’’N – 61º 32’ 39’’W, 1281 m , 19/ III /2006 , 4 nymphs. Collectors : MEG, EG and AMO. Specimens were deposited at the MLBV ( Venezuela) and IBN ( Argentina).

Discussion. This species was described only from nymphs, that are very unusual and easy to recognize for the very long labial palpi, which also present a basal prominence on segment I. Apparently, due to the scarce number of nymphs collected, this species is not very common in the region. This is the first time it is collected in Venezuela.

Distribution. Surinam, Brazil, Venezuela (new country record).

Ecology. Nymphs were collected from the submerged substrates within the rivers during the rainy (November 2005) and dry (March 2006) seasons. Rivers were large water courses (30 m – 70 m wide), non-shaded, with bottom of rocks and gravels and acidic waters (pH=5).