Askola fortuita Salles & Jabeen 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Salles, Frederico F.
name: Jabeen, Fatima
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Ephemeroptera
Leptophlebiidae
Askola
Askola fortuita

description: Askola fortuita Salles & Jabeen, sp. nov.
(Figs. 1–3)
Diagnosis
The male imago of A. fortuita sp. nov. can be distinguished from other species of the genus by the following combination of characteristics: dorsal portion of compound eyes widely meeting on meson of head (Fig. 2B); forewings hyaline (Fig. 2E); femora white with a submedial mark and an apical band, both orangish brown; abdominal coloration mostly translucent white (Fig. 2D); genitalia with styliger plate washed with brown and red laterally, forceps segment I reddish-brown on basal ¼, remainder translucent white, penes yellowish brown; and penes not extending beyond posterior margin of styliger plate (Figs. 3A–C).
Descriptions. Male imago (Figs. 2, 3)
Measures. Body: 5.2–5.8 mm; forewing: 6.0– 6.7 mm. Foreleg: 5.9 mm. Caudal filament: 9.9 mm.
Ratios. Wings: forewing width 0.35× forewing length; fork on MA 2 of forewing 0.47mm × total length of MA. Genitalia: medial length of styliger plate 0.8× maximum width; lateral length of styliger plate 1.2× medial length of styliger plate. Forceps segment III 1.0× forceps segment II; forceps segment III 0.16× forceps segment I; forceps segment II 1.6× forceps segment I. Penis length approximately 1.0× forceps segment I.
Coloration and morphology. General coloration (Fig. 2A): brown anteriorly, white posteriorly.
Head: head brown, ocelli surrounded by black, frons orange. Compound eyes widely meet dorsally on median portion of head (Fig. 2B); dorsal surface oblong, wider than long; dorsal portion gray, lower portion black (Figs. 2B, C). Antenna translucent white, except for scape with outer margin orangish brown.
Thorax (Figs. 2B, C): Pronotum brown with white mark on posterior margin. Mesonotum brown with median longitudinal suture yellowish brown, anteronotal impression and medioparapsidal suture dark brown, posterior scutal protuberance and scutellum yellowish brown. Metanotum yellowish brown. Pleurae yellowish brown, with some areas dark brown; sterna dark brown. Fore femur white with submedial mark and apical band, both orangish brown; fore tibia white with weak orangish brown mark on apex; tarsi and claw white. Mid and hind legs similar to fore leg, except for tarsi, darker toward apex, and for mark on apex of femora, brown. Wings (Fig. 2E). Membrane hyaline. Longitudinal veins light yellow, cross veins white; base of wing and base of veins C, Sc and RA orange brown; costal arc dark brown; 3 cross veins basal to bullae, 14 cross veins distal to bullae.
Abdomen (Fig. 2D): translucent white. Tergum I with triangular brown mark anteromedially; terga I to VII translucent white, darker posterolaterally; posterior half of tergum VII and terga VIII to X heavily washed with brown and slightly tinged with orange. Sterna white; sterna I to VII with small posterolateral gray mark. Genitalia (Figs. 3 A–C). Styliger plate washed with brown and red laterally; forceps segment I washed with brown and red on basal 1/4, remainder of forceps white; penes yellowish brown, not extending beyond posterior margin of styliger plate.
Female imago and nymph. Unknown.
Etymology. From the latin adjective fortuitus, meaning at random.
Distribution. Brazil: Espírito Santo State (close to the border with Minas Gerais) (Fig. 1).
Type material. Holotype: ♂ imago in alcohol, Brazil, Espírito Santo State, Dores do Rio Preto municipality, Pedra Menina, Vô Nininho property, S„o Bento stream, S20°31’57”, W41°47’25”, 1340 m, 29.xii.2022, Salles, F.F. col. (UFVB). Paratypes: 4 ♂ imagos, same data as holotype (2 at UFVB, 2 at MNRJ).
Comments. According to Peters (1969) in the original description of A. froehlichi, there is variation in the abdominal color pattern of the species: some male subimagos present more extensive dark-brown marks on terga II to IX (an abdominal color pattern approaching that of the female), while in others male subimagos markings on the sterna are faded to light-brown. These slight discrepancies are expected due to the fading of the specimens after a period in ethanol, or even as a result of temporal and/or geographic variation. Campos et al. (2019), on the other hand, interpreted a remarkable variation in the abdominal coloration pattern of A. froehlichi, as illustrated in figures 3A–F of their paper. It’s our opinion, however, that some of these morphotypes might represent distinct and new species. In the case of A. fortuita sp. nov., which is similar to Campos et al. (2019) morphotype C (also distributed in Caparaó—the closest point to the letter C on figure 3 of Campos et al. 2019), important differences are found in relation to the original description of A. froehlichi, even considering the variation noted by Peters (1969), as well as in relation to material of this species examined by us from other areas in Minas Gerais (Brigadeiro State Park) and especially from Espírito Santo (Augusto Ruchi Biological Reserve). In that case more than 40 specimens of A. froehlichi were examined, collected monthly for more than one year (26th July 2017 to 21st November 2018) in three streams. The differences are: a) the coloration of the femora, especially of the posterior pair, which in A. froehlichi is light brown and always represented by a medial and an apical brown band, while in the new species is white with a submedial mark and an apical band, both orangish brown; b) the abdominal coloration, which is mostly translucent white in A. fortuita sp. nov., but light-brown with dark brown marks in A. froehlichi (see comments above); and c) the forceps segment I, basal ¼ of A. froehlichi is brown, remainder is paler, while basal ¼ of the new species is reddish-brown, remainder is translucent white.
description: Published as part of Salles, Frederico F. & Jabeen, Fatima, 2023, A new species of Askola Peters, 1969 (Ephemeroptera: Leptophlebiidae) from Southeastern Brazil, pp. 195-200 in Zootaxa 5315 (2) on pages 196-199, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5315.2.8, http://zenodo.org/record/8130447