Amphinemura tiernodefigueroai Vinçon, 2014

Vinçon, Gilles, Alami, Majida El & Errochdi, Sanae, 2014, Contribution To The Knowledge Of The Moroccan High And Middle Atlas Stoneflies (Plecoptera, Insecta), Illiesia 10 (3), pp. 17-31 : 20-22

Amphinemura tiernodefigueroai Vinçon sp. n.

( Figs 2-3, 5-7 )

Material examined. Holotype male: Morocco, Middle-Atlas , SE Khenifra, Sidi Yahia Ousaad, Oued Oum er Rbia tributary, lateral spring, 15.04.201 3, deposited in the Zoological Museum of Lausanne, Switzerland ( ZML) . Paratypes: 3♂, 3♀, same locality and date, deposited in the ZML. Other specimens, same locality, 15.04.201 3, 17♂, 17♀; 8.06.201 3, 5♂, 11♀, are held in the Vinçon collection.

Description. Medium sized species: body length: male 4.6-5.6 mm, female 4.8-6.5 mm. Macropterous, wing length: male 5.8-7.0 mm, female 6.4-7.2 mm. General colour brownish. Head brown with dark granulation on lateral parts of occiput; light brown spot between the three ocelli. Antennae dark brown covered with short thin hairs. Pronotum brown with two lateral dark patterns. Femora brownish, slightly darker in their distal part. Abdomen light brown. Body and legs covered with short pilosity.

Male genitalia ( Figs 2-7 ). Paraprocts: Inner lobe long and closely connected to median lobe; its base partly hidden beneath expansion of the hypoproct ( Fig. 3 ). Median lobe with rounded base and finger-shaped expansion bending dorsally between base of the epiproct and cercus ( Figs 2, 3 ); this expansion is covered with thin hairs and a distal row of 5-6 strong spines ( Figs 2, 5, 6 ). Outer lobe narrow, strongly bent dorsally, and nearly parallel to outer side of median lobe ( Figs 5, 6 ). Cercus sub-cylindrical, hardly narrowing toward its tip, about twice as long as wide and covered with long thin hairs. Epiproct elongate, with dorso-medial bulge and rounded apex in lateral view ( Fig. 7 ), and regularly narrowing toward its tip, ending in rounded apex in dorsal view ( Fig. 2 ). Transparent filament very short, triangularly shaped, bent downward, with acute tip ( Figs 2, 7 ). Dorsal sclerite of epiproct very narrow, nearly rectilinear, extending medially between base and tip of epiproct ( Fig. 7 ). Ventral sclerite hardly bulged, covered with several scattered spines ( Fig. 7 ). Tergite IX sclerotized, slightly raised upward on outer edge, without median notch, covered with thin hairs, without spines. Other tergites membranous, without spines along outer edge. Sternite IX ( Fig. 3 ): Hypoproct with rounded base and triangular expansion reaching base of epiproct. Ventral vesicle racket-shaped and membranous except its sclerotized rod.

Female genitalia ( Fig. 4 ). Sternite VII: Pregenital plate wider than half segment’s width, slightly projecting backward on sternite VIII. Sternite VIII with two small rounded lobes rising from posterior margin and separated by a notch wider than the width of one of them. A narrow median sclerotized strip separates the tergite into two parts ( Fig. 4 ). Sternite IX with two dark triangular spots near anterior margin, laterally. Paraprocts more or less triangular with rounded tip. Cercus rounded, nearly as long as wide and covered with long thin hairs.

Affinities. A. tiernodefigueroai sp. n. is closely related to A. berthelemyi from which it differs by the following features. ♂: median lobe of paraprocts nearly as long as wide, forming half a circle ( Figs 5, 6 ); while in A. berthelemyi , the finger-shaped spiny dorsal projection is much longer and carries more spines ( Figs 10, 11); epiproct narrowing more toward its tip in A. tiernodefigueroai sp. n. ( Figs 2 , 9); ventral spiny bulge less prominent in A. tiernodefigueroai sp. n. than in A. berthelemyi ( Figs 7 , 12); terminal filament ending in sharp point in A. tiernodefigueroai sp. n. ( Fig. 7 ) but more bluntly in A. berthelemyi ( Fig. 12). ♀ sternite VII: pre-genital plate projecting less backward and less convex in A. tiernodefigueroai sp. n. than in A. berthelemyi ( Figs 4, 8 ).

Distribution. Micro-endemic species of the Moroccan Middle-Atlas, only known from three small springs of the same brook ( Figs 13, 14 ), on the southern slope of the Middle-Atlas (southward Khenifra, Fig. 1 ).

Ecology. A cold stenothermic, crenophilic species. The adults emerge in spring (IV-VI).

Etymology. Dedicated to the Spanish entomologist José Manuel Tierno de Figueroa, for his major contributions to the knowledge of the Mediterranean and European stoneflies.

Figures

Figs 2-7. Amphinemura tiernodefigueroai sp. n. 2: male abdomen in dorsal view; 3: male abdomen in ventral view; 4: female abdomen in ventral view; 5: paraproct in lateral view (outer lobe on the left and median lobe on the right); 6: median lobe of the paraproct in dorsal view; 7: epiproct in lateral view. Figs 8-12. Amphinemura berthelemyi 8: detail of female abdomen in ventral view; 9: epiproct in dorsal view; 10: paraproct in lateral view (outer lobe on the left and median lobe on the right); 11: median lobe of the paraproct in dorsal view; 12: epiproct in lateral view (♂ Figs 2-3, 5-7, 9-12: scale = 0,5 mm, ♀ Figs 4, 8: scale = 1 mm).

Figs. 13-14. Middle-Atlas, SE Khenifra, Sidi Yahia Ousaad brook, tributary of Oum er Rbia River. 13: main brook and lateral springs on the left side, 14: detail of one lateral spring. In the lateral springs both Amphinemura tiernodefigueroai sp. n. and Protonemura dakkii occur.

Fig. 1. Distribution of Amphinemura berthelemyi, A. chiffensis, A. tiernodefigueroai sp. n. and A. yasriarum.