Anacroneuria, Klapalek, 1909

Stark, Bill P., Kondratieff, Boris C. & Gill, Brian, 2012, New Species And Records Of Anacroneuria (Plecoptera: Perlidae) From Ecuador And Paraguay, Illiesia 8 (6), pp. 78-93 : 88-90

Anacroneuria EC-1

( Figs. 29-31 )

Material examined. Ecuador: Napo Province, 2.78 km W Papallacta, Hwy E-20 , 3296 m, 25 January 2012, B.C. Kondratieff, B. Gill, 1♀ ( CSUC) .

Adult habitus. General color dark brown to black. Head yellow, with dark brown patches extending forward of each ocellus toward central frons; lappets dark brown, posterolateral occiput and anteromedian frons pale brown ( Fig. 29 ). Antennae and legs dark brown, femora paler in ventral half. Pronotum dark brown over lateral third, and bearing a thin, dark, diagonal line near anterolateral margin. Wing membrane dark brown to black, veins brown except pale R vein.

Male. Unknown.

Female. Forewing length 31 mm. Subgenital plate bilobed with truncate posterior margins; lobes separated by a shallow V-shaped notch. Sternum 9 bearing an obscure transverse sclerite, median sclerite covered by dark setae ( Fig. 31 ).

Egg. Somewhat thimble shaped with broadly rounded anterior pole almost as wide as collar end ( Fig. 30 ). Collar small and button shaped. Chorionic surface without follicle cell impressions.

Comments. Females representing more than 30 Anacroneuria species have been described under temporary designations consisting of a two letter national code followed by a number. Ten have been proposed for Colombia ( Stark et al. 1999; Zuniga & Stark, 2002; Zuniga et al. 2007), five for Guyana (Stark 1999; 2000), three for Paraguay ( Stark & Baumann 2011), one for Peru ( Stark & Sivec 1998), and twelve for Venezuela ( Stark 1995; Maldonado et al. 2002). Several additional species have been proposed as Anacroneuria sp. , or as Anacroneuria sp. A , etc., without a prefix; six of these (sp. A, B, C, D, E, F) were proposed by Harper (1992) for the Panamanian fauna. Only one of these unassociated females, A. CO-5 (FWL 24-26 mm), has a forewing length approaching that of this species; both species also have the subgenital plate bilobed, however the former species is quite pale in comparison to A. EC-1. Among large Anacroneuria species where sufficient specimens are known to generate a significant sample size [e.g. A. magnirufa Jewett 1958 or A. plutonis ( Banks 1914) ], male forewing length is approximately 75% of female forewing length (Stark 1998). If this is applied to the current female, the male could be expected to display a forewing length of about 23 mm.

The site ( Fig. 35 ) where this female was collected is a high gradient stream characterized by a series of large waterfalls and short stretches of riffles. The channel width is 1.63 m and average depth at the time of collection was 0.12 m. Discharge was 31.3 L s-1 at the time of the collection, and canopy cover was about 47%. Vegetation is typical of high altitude Andean cloud forest; however, it has been disturbed by adjacent anthropogenic activities. This stream is one of the few in the Papallacta area where larvae of the gripopterygid Claudioperla cf. tigrina (Klapálek) were found in oxygenated areas with smaller substrate in large numbers.

Figures

Figs. 29-31. Anacroneuria EC-1 female structures. 29. Head and pronotum. 30. Egg. 31. Abdominal sterna 8-9.

Figs. 32-35. Ecuadorian collecting sites. 32. Napo Province, 6.38 km W Baeza, 1,987 m. 33. Same site as previous figure. 34. Napo Province, 8.68 km W Baeza, 2,134 m. 35. Napo Province, 2.78 km W Papallacta, 3,296 m.