Tortopsis spatula Molineri, 2010, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Molineri, Carlos
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Ephemeroptera
Polymitarcyidae
Tortopsis
Tortopsis spatula

description: Tortopsis spatula sp. nov.
Material: holotype male imago from Colombia: Depto. Amazonas, Leticia, caño km 11 hacia Tarapacá, S 4º 7' 30" W 69º 57' 25", 93 m, light trap 18–20 h, 28-I-1999, Z, D & M cols. Paratypes: 3 male and 1 female imago same data as holotype; 1 female imago from Leticia, caño km 15 hacia Tarapacá, 93 m, light trap 18–20 h, 10- II-1999, S 4º 5' 41" W 69º 59' 1", Z, D & M cols.; 26 male and 7 female imagos from Colombia: Depto. Amazonas, Parque Nacional Amacayacu, río Amacayacu, 93 m, light trap 18–20 h, 3-II-1999, S 3º 48' 28" W 70º 15' 21", Z, D & M cols.; 1 male from Colombia: Depto. Amazonas, Puerto Nariño, Loreto Yacu, S 3º 44' 26" W 70º 27' 19", light trap 18–20 h, 5-II-1999, Z, D & M cols. Holotype, allotype and 5 paratypes male imagos at MUSENUV; 2 male paratypes at CIUC and 2 male paratypes at FAMU, remaining paratypes at IML.
Male imago. Length (mm): body, 9.0–12.0; fore wing, 9.5–11.2; hind wing, 4.1–5.3; foreleg, 4.2–5.8; cerci, 26.0–33.0. General coloration yellowish white shaded heavily with brownish gray (much lighter specimens were also collected, but the description below is based on those with the better marked color pattern). Head yellowish white shaded widely with gray on dorsum, except around median ocellus, shaded stronger between lateral ocelli (similar to Fig. 60). Antennae: scape and pedicel yellowish white completely shaded with gray, flagellum hyaline. Thorax. Pronotum with anterior ring relatively long, strongly shaded with gray dorsally; posterior ring shaded gray except on sublateral areas. Mesonotum whitish yellow shaded widely with gray along medioparapsidal sutures and medial line, and shaded with black on a V-shaped mark between posterior scutal protuberances. Metanotum whitish yellow shaded gray except laterally. Thoracic pleura and sterna whitish yellow, darker on carinae; metasternum shaded with gray in the middle. Legs yellowish white shaded with grayish on fore femur, tibia and first tarsal segment, rest of leg shaded much lighter; middle and hind legs yellowish shaded gray except tarsi whitish. Wings. Membrane hyaline, longitudinal and cross veins translucent shaded slightly with brownish. Abdomen. Tergum I shaded widely with brownish gray except medial band, terga II–VIII shaded more extensively but with a pair of submedian pale marks increasing in size towards rear segments, also with a pale oblique dash laterally; terga IX–X shaded more strongly, IX with pale marks submedially near fore margin and laterally, the lateral pale marks are surrounded with black. Abdominal sterna shaded widely with brownish gray except on pair of submedian spots and along medial and sublateral thin bands. Genitalia (Fig. 63–66, 77): sternum IX shaded very strongly in posterior margin; large parastyli orangeish, curved dorsally and with a longitudinal ventral furrow along its entire length (Fig. 63–65, 77); forceps and penes translucent yellowish white, shaded slightly gray on second forceps segment; spine at apex of penes blunt, semicircular (Fig. 66, 77). Caudal filament whitish translucent.
Female imago. Length (mm): body, 11.0–14.0; fore wing, 12.4–15.2; hind wing, 5.2–6.5; cerci, 4.5–5.5. General coloration as in male but more strongly marked, eggs yellowish white. Head black between ocelli, with gray anastomosed marks on occiput (Fig. 60). Pronotum with wide sublateral gray band, not well distinguished from the remaining gray marks (Fig. 60). Wings membrane hyaline slightly tinged with yellow, veins more strongly shaded with brownish. Abdomen shaded uniformly with gray on terga, except on sublateral pale dashes. Sternum VIII with V-shaped parastyli receptors on sternum VIII (Figs. 61–62, 78), margin of socket weakly sclerotized, depression elongated.
Egg (Figs. 79–80). Suboval, with a long thread coiled around the convex area of the egg. Length, 330–375 µm; width, 270–300 µm. The entire surface is covered by well marked subcircular grooves.
Observations. The specimens from Amacayacu are very pale, the color pattern is the same but much less marked dorsally, and almost completely absent ventrally.
Etymology. From the latin " spatula ", meaning spoon, an allusion to the flat and thin shape of penean apical spine.
Discussion and diagnosis. Tortopsis spatula sp. nov., known from imagos of both sexes, can be distinguished from all other species of the genus by: 1) fore wing length 9.5–11.2 mm (male), 12.4–15.2 mm (female); 2) pale wings, veins translucent hyaline; 3) parastyli moderately curved, with a longitudinal ventral furrow (Fig. 63–65, 77); 4) apical spine of penes rounded and flattened (Figs. 66, 77); 5) female parastyli receptors with V-shaped sockets (Figs. 61–62, 78); 6) head shaded black behind median ocellus, occiput with gray anastomosed marks (Fig. 60); 7) female pronotum as described in Tortopsis obscuripennis but the sublateral gray mark is broad and not completely isolated from the main central shading (Fig. 60). The form of the penean spine suggests a close relationship with T. unguiculatus, as recovered in shortest phylogenetic trees with the reduced data set (Fig. 1 B).
description: Published as part of Molineri, Carlos, 2010, A cladistic revision of Tor top us Needham & Murphy with description of the new genus Tortopsis (Ephemeroptera: Polymitarcyidae), pp. 1-36 in Zootaxa 2481 on page 33, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.195431