Perlodes microcephalus
Creators: name: Zwick, Peter
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Plecoptera
Perlodidae
Perlodes
Perlodes microcephalus

description: <i>Perlodes microcephalus</i> (Pictet 1833) <b>Material examined.</b> Numerous specimens from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, North and South Italy, Greece and Anatolia were examined for egg structure. Biometry was additionally performed on the following: Germany: Hesse, upper course of river Fulda between Obernhausen and Ried, 11&amp;male;, 11&amp;female;; Hesse, Spessart, tributary to river Schmale Sinn, 7&amp;female;; Lower Saxony, Harz Mts, Hohegeiss, 1&amp;female;; Northrhine Westphalia, Albaum, 2&amp;male;, 1&amp;female; (det. J. Aubert); Baden-Württemberg, river Kocher at Gaildorf, 2&amp;male;, 1&amp;female;; Bavaria, Bavarian Forest, Rotbach at Böbrachmühle, 3&amp;male;. Austria, Pongau, Eben, 2&amp;male;. Switzerland, Hochrhein at Sargans, 3&amp;male;, 2&amp;female;. Turkey, Armenia, Pülümür Pass, 3&amp;male;, 1&amp;female;; North Anatolia, Pass between Terfenni and Korkuteli, 1500m, 8&amp;male;, 13&amp;female;. Assigned to <i>P. microcephalus</i> with doubt: Germany, Lower Saxony, Medingen, 8&amp;male;, 5&amp;female;. <b>Brachypterism</b>. Males range from strongly to barely brachypterous, several have a RWL similar to females. Wing length variation does not seem to be random but to occur stepwise. Should this be confirmed in larger samples the phenomenon might be related to number of larval instars through which specimens grew before metamorphosis. <b>Egg structure</b>. Sclerites on the anchor disc margin are well delimited and large. They are 2-3 times longer in radial direction than they are wide in peripheral direction. Sclerite orientation is oblique, sclerite tips point in a clockwise direction. Variation between specimens from central Germany, Italy (Sila Grande), or Anatolia is normally not greater than between individual platelets of the illustrated specimen (Fig. 5). However, a female from N. Italy and one from Greece, Olympus, had shorter platelets. <b>Aberrant population.</b> A sample from N. Germany, Medingen near Uelzen, is assigned to <i>P. microcephalus</i> with some doubt. Variation of male wing length (Fig. 2) seems to resemble <i>P. microcephalus</i> but sclerites on the egg anchor are different between specimens and resemble some of the <i>P. mortoni</i> eggs shown in Fig. 5. A single female of <i>P. dispar</i> was taken at the same site. <b>Notes.</b> Types of <i>Perla microcephala</i> are no longer available (Zwick 1972). I regard Berthélemy (1964) as first revisor in the sense of the INTERNATIONAL CODE OF ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE and follow his interpretation of the name.
description: Published as part of <i>Zwick, Peter, 2011, Polymorphism And Taxonomic Problems In The Perlodes Microcephalus Group (Plecoptera: Perlodidae); Perlodes Mortoni Removed From Synonymy, pp. 291-296 in Illiesia 7 (26)</i> on page 292, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4758218
description: {"references": ["Pictet, F. J. 1833. Memoire sur les metamorphoses des Perles. Annales des Sciences Naturelles 28: 44 - 65, pls V, VI.", "Zwick, P. 1972. Die Plecopteren Pictets und Burmeisters, mit Angaben uber weitere Arten (Insecta). Revue suisse de Zoologie, 78 (1971): 1123 - 1194.", "Berthelemy, C. 1964. Interet taxonomique des oeufs chez les Perlodes europeens. * Plecopteres +. Bulletin de la Societe d'Histoire Naturelle de Toulouse, 99: 529 - 537."]}