Psaironeura jeronimoi Mendoza-Penagos & Juen & Muzón & Vilela 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Mendoza-Penagos, Cristian Camilo
name: Juen, Leandro
name: Muzón, Javier
name: Vilela, Diogo Silva
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Odonata
Protoneuridae
Psaironeura
Psaironeura jeronimoi

description: Psaironeura jeronimoi sp. nov. Mendoza-Penagos, Juen, Muzón &Vilela, 2022
(Figs. 1a, 2 a−c, 3a−c, 4a−d)
Holotype: ♂ (LABECO, N° 10002717), BRAZIL, Amazonas, Borbas, Estação Ecológica Alto Maués, (-5.9852, - 59.3182, 114 m asl), igarapé de primer ordem dentro de floresta de Terra Firme, nas poças laterais [first order stream in Terra Firme forest, in the lateral pools]: 12.v.2019, C. C. Mendoza-Penagos & F. Carvalho, leg.
Paratypes: 1♂ (LABECO, N° 10002710), same data as holotype but 11-v-2019, C.C. Mendoza-Penagos & F. Carvalho, leg, deposited in LABECO; 1♂ (LABECO, N° 2048) BRAZIL, Pará, Belterra, (-3.2974, -54.9640, 134 m asl), small stream of first order in Terra Firme Forest: 27.vii.2010, Almeida, M. & Dias, K., leg, deposited in MPEG; 1♂ same data as previously but: (LABECO, N° 2159), deposited in INPA; 2♂♂ (ABMM, UFMG–IOD–2200029) BRAZIL, Pará, Belterra, Porto Novo (Bomba), (-2.6193, -54.9793, 20 m asl): ii.1957, A.B.M. Machado, leg. [OBS: Espécie nova? Em tandem com UFMG–IOD–2200030], deposited in AMMB; 1♂ same data as previously but: (UFMG –IOD–2200030), deposited in AMMB.
Etymology. Named jeronimoi (genitive noun) in honor to Jerónimo Mendoza Ruiz, son of the first author for his faithful and loving support from afar and for his invaluable company on expeditions.
Description of holotype
Head (Figs. 1a, 2a). Labium and labrum pale brown; base of mandibles and genae pale; antefrons dark brown; vertex and remainder of head black with a green metallic luster; rear of head black.
Thorax (Figs. 1a, 2b, 2c). Prothorax mostly pale brown, with two dark spots on each side of middle lobe; hind lobe rounded, mostly dark brown with some green metallic luster. Pterothorax black to dark brown, except ventral ½ of mesinfraepisternum, dorsal ½ of metespisternum, metinfraespisternum and metepisternum pale brown to yellowish. Antehumeral stripe metallic green. Legs: Coxae and trochanter pale yellow; external and inner surface of femora and tibiae pale yellow, tarsus and spurs brown (Fig. 1). The spurs on femora increase in size from base to apex (four in left and right metafemora), the spurs on tibiae decrease in size from base to apex (six in left and five in right metatibia).
Wings (Fig. 1a). Hyaline, almost reaching S6; venation dark brown; Pt dark brown with lighter contours, oblique proximally, overlying less than one cell in FW and overriding one cell in HW; two Pq in all wings; 12 Px in FW, 10 Px in HW; CuA and CuP&AA fused to wing margin (absent); MP short, reaching the wing margin with the descending vein from subnodus; IR 2 arising in fifth Px in FW, in fourth Px in HW.
Abdomen (Fig. 1a). S1−S2 pale-brown with an apical black ring; S3−S5 black, with two pale-brown rings, basal, subapical, at apical 3/4; S6–8 black with a pale brown basal ring; S9 mostly black, with a basal line pale; S10 black; sternites S1–S10 pale-brown. Genital ligula. lacking setae, blade-like with an elongated inner fold, reaching the third segment; distal segment with a pair of apical long curled flagella projected dorsally (Figs. 4 a−d).
Anal appendages (Figs. 3 a−b). Cercus brown, elongated in lateral view, almost twice as long as S10; in dorsal view with a rounded ante-apical lobe in internal branch; external branch with apical external lobe armed with one black tooth; VbP slender, long, medially projected, reaching ante-apical lobe, with acute black apex. Paraprocts vestigial.
Measurements. FW 15.9–16-; HW 15.01–15.18; AL 23.70; TL 28.05
Female. Unknown.
Variation in paratypes. Px 12–13 in FW, Px 9–11 in HW. Coloration on metepisternum varies from pale brown to black, some specimens are mostly black. Some specimens present variation in the amount of pale brown on mesepimeron, although in most specimens the black coloration predominates.
Differential diagnosis. Except for the general color pattern (mostly dark brown or black instead of red) P. jeronimoi fits into tenuissima group (sensu Garrison 2004; Tennessen 2016), because its elongated cerci with semicircular apex and a ventro-basal process. Psaironeura jeronimoi can be separated from P. bifurcata, and P. tenuissima by the following character combinations (P. jeronimoi in parentheses): internal branch with a AaT present in P. bifurcata, absent in P. tenuissima (AaT absent, instead it has an ante-apical rounded lobe AaL) (Fig. 3); VbP spine-like, short, not reaching AaT in P. bifurcata, reaching 1/2 of cercus in P. tenuissima (reaching 3/4 of cercus) (Fig. 3); flagella of genital ligula recurved and projected anteriorly in P. bifurcata and projected laterally in P. tenuissima (flagella of genital ligula projected dorsally) (Fig. 4); pterothorax mostly orange-red in P. bifurcata and P. tenuissima (mesothorax mostly black) (Fig. 2).
Habitat and Ecology. In 2019, a group of researchers belonging to LABECO made part in a collecting trip to Alto Maués Ecological Station was made with to objective to inventory their biodiversity. This area remains is an unexplored primary forest, inhabited only by indigenous people who maintain little contact with other people and where no environmental modifications caused by extensive anthropogenic activities were observed. Psaironeura jeronimoi was collected in two sites, both consisting of first-order streams (narrower than 1m) with slow waters and dense vegetation.
Psaironeura jeronimoi has thus far been collected at two localities, Belterra municipality (Pará State) and Borbas municipality (Amazonas State) (Fig. 5). In the latter, inhabits small lateral ponds, near principal first order stream (Fig. 6), and shares its habitat with Chalcopteryx radians Ris, 1914, Heliocharis amazona Selys, 1853, Mnesarete aenea Selys, 1853, Heteragrion silvarum Sjöstedt, 1918, Psaironeura tenuissima (Selys, 1886), Phasmoneura exigua (Selys, 1886), Dicterias atrosanguinea Selys, 1853, and Microstigma sp.
description: Published as part of Mendoza-Penagos, Cristian Camilo, Juen, Leandro, Muzón, Javier & Vilela, Diogo Silva, 2022, Psaironeura jeronimoi (Odonata: Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) sp. nov. from the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, with a key for species of tenuissima group, and discussion on the significance of the genital ligula to the taxonomy of the group, pp. 291-300 in Zootaxa 5196 (2) on pages 293-297, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5196.2.9, http://zenodo.org/record/7224616