Epeorus (Epeorus) aculeatus Braasch 1990
Creators: name: Vasanth, M.
name: Selvakumar, C.
name: Subramanian, K. A.
name: Sivaramakrishnan, K. G.
name: Sinha, Bikramjit
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Ephemeroptera
Heptageniidae
Epeorus
Epeorus aculeatus

description: <i>Epeorus</i> (<i>Epeorus</i>) <i>aculeatus</i> Braasch, 1990 (Figs 1–17) <b>Material examined:</b> 1 larva, INDIA, Arunachal Pradesh, Lower Subansiri district, Duskilo stream, 27.62776 N, 93.8437 E, 1662 m, 16.vi.2017, colls. K. A. Subramanian and M. Vasanth [ZSI/ SRC-I / E 289]; 6 larvae, Arunachal Pradesh, West Kameng district, Dirang, Showda village, Dirang river, 27.32675 N, 92.23180 E, 1877 m, 13.iii.2018, coll. Bikramjit Sinha [ZSI/ SRC-I / E 298]. <b>Description:</b> Larva: Body length 9.5 mm; length of cerci 11.5 mm. Body generally dark brown (Fig. 1). <b>Head:</b> Length 1.7 mm, width 2.4 mm; brown, (Fig. 1); subquadrangular; anterior and lateral margins convex, with rows of dense hair-like setae directed anteriorly; posterior margin slightly concave. Compound eyes black. Antennal scape and pedicel brown, flagellum pale. Labrum dark brown, deeply cleft with median notch on anterior margin; long hair-like setae laterally (Fig. 5). Hypopharynx: Lingua with anterolateral lobes; superlinguae slightly expanded, laterally with rows of dense hair-like setae (Fig. 6). Mandible without scattered setae along the molar; incisors serrated, outer incisor longer than inner incisor (Figs 7–8). Maxilla with row of hair-like setae medially, apical segment of palp with dense row of hair-like setae, basal segment of palp broad (Fig. 9). Labium broad, glossae with U-shaped separation, subtriangular; paraglossae slightly expanded laterally; apical segment of each palp pointed, dorsal surface with dense row of comb setae (Fig. 10). <b>Thorax:</b> Pronotum brown without clear marks; mesonotum somewhat darker brown with paramedian pair of darker spots anteriorly (Fig. 1). Legs: Femur brown; hypodermal spot on dorsal surface, outer margin with long setae; distal end with blunt spine (Figs 11–13); short stout blunt setae scattered on dorsal surface (Fig. 11a), tibia brown with long hair-like setae on outer margin; tarsi dark brown. Claw small with 3 denticles (Fig. 14). <b>Abdomen:</b> Abdominal terga dark brown, terga II–IX with pair of long, acute, submedian spines (Fig. 2); posterior margin of tergum with hair-like setae medially and with numerous minute spines on segments II–IX (Fig. 4); segments II–VII with long posterolateral extensions (Fig. 3); sterna pale yellowish without markings. Lamellae of gill I somewhat extended beneath of abdomen (Fig. 15). Gills II–VII with costal ribs arched and anal rib straight (Figs 16–17). Cerci with hair-like setae dorsally. <b>Diagnosis:</b> The larva of <i>Epeorus</i> (<i>E.</i>) <i>aculeatus</i> can be distinguished from other species of this genus by the following combination of characters: (i) posterior margin of abdominal terga II–IX each with pair of long, acute, submedian spines (Figs 1–2); (ii) anterior margin of labrum with deep median notch (Fig. 5); (iii) femur with short stout blunt setae scattered on dorsal surface (Fig. 11a). <b>Distribution:</b> Thailand and India (Arunachal Pradesh). <b>Remarks:</b> The larva of this species was described from Thailand by Braasch (1990) and male adult was described by Webb &amp; McCafferty (2006); we provide a supplementary larval description based on our material, which represents the first record of the species for India.
description: Published as part of <i>Vasanth, M., Selvakumar, C., Subramanian, K. A., Sivaramakrishnan, K. G. &amp; Sinha, Bikramjit, 2021, Contribution to the study of Epeorus Eaton, 1881 (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae) from India, pp. 499-522 in Zootaxa 4991 (3)</i> on pages 500-503, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4991.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/5042522
description: {"references": ["Braasch, D. (1990) Neue Eintagsfliegen aus Thailand, nebsteinigen Bemerkungen zuderen generischem Status (Insecta, Ephemeroptera, Heptageniidae). Reichenbachia, 28 (2), 7 - 14.", "Webb, J. M. &amp; McCafferty, W. P. (2006) First description of the adult male of Epeorus aculeatus Braasch (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae). Zootaxa, 1277, 65 - 68. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 1277.1.5"]}