Simulium
Creators: name: Adler, Peter H.
name: Belqat, Boutaïna
name: González, Josefina Garrido
name: Pérez, Alexandre Justo
name: Seitz, Gunther
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Simuliidae
Simulium

description: Simulium ‘IL-8’
We analyzed the chromosome preparations of 4 larvae, all females, from Sites 3 and 4 (Table 1).
Chromosomal complement. In our small sample, the following inversions were found in the homozygous condition: IL-2, IL-8, IIIP-1, and IIIL-1cy,ca. The last-mentioned inversion was associated with a homozygous, thin, strongly staining band (tb) at the junction of 86B and 88A (Fig. 6 B). A subterminal heteroband (Hb45B) in IIS (Fig. 6 A) was homozygous in all 4 larvae. A chromocenter, ectopic pairing, and B chromosomes were absent.
Sex chromosomes. Without males, no statement can be made about the sex chromosomes.
Autosomal polymorphisms. A subterminal heteroband (Hb74A) in IIIS (Fig 6 B) was heterozygous in two larvae. This heteroband was distinct from the taxonomically widespread Hb74C2 of Hunter (1987).
Taxonomic status. No other chromosomally analyzed species in the S. vernum group has a banding sequence like that of our 4 larvae. In addition to European species that have been formally analyzed (summarized by Adler & Crosskey 2015), we have unpublished information for S. brevidens (Rubtsov) and S. quasidecolletum Crosskey, each of which is chromosomally unique and lacks inversion IL-8. We do not have chromosomal data for S. bertrandi Grenier & Dorier, S. codreanui (Sherban), S. oligotuberculatum (Knoz), or some of the putative Italian endemics. One of our 4 larvae, however, was mature, and its uncurled gill histoblast did not have an elongated base or a swollen dorsal trunk, eliminating S. codreanui and S. oligotuberculatum. The postgenal cleft was rounded or slightly angular anteriorly, suggesting that the species is not S. bertrandi, which has a more angular cleft (similar to that of S. argyreatum Meigen). No pupae in the collections at Sites 3 and 4 had the elongated microtubercles with secondary granules characteristic of S. bertrandi (Grenier & Dorier 1959). We, therefore, suggest that these larvae represent a new, formally undescribed species, here designated Simulium ‘IL-8’. We refrain from formally describing a new species until additional life stages are collected.
Bionomics. Larvae were collected in two streams, both with open canopies. One stream (Site 3) was less than 0.5 m wide with a sandy and stony substrate, whereas the other (Site 4) was twice as wide with a sandy substrate and some macrophytes harboring the preimaginal stages.
Larvae were collected with those of S. aureum Fries sensu stricto, S. armoricanum, S. cryophilum complex, S. vernum sensu stricto, S. ornatum group and S. variegatum Meigen group.
description: Published as part of Adler, Peter H., Belqat, Boutaïna, González, Josefina Garrido, Pérez, Alexandre Justo & Seitz, Gunther, 2016, Chromosomal relationships of Simulium armoricanum and its undescribed sister species in the Simulium vernum species group (Diptera: Simuliidae), pp. 211-222 in Zootaxa 4137 (2) on pages 219-221, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4137.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/267215