Pharmacus cochleatus fiordensis, Hegg & Morgan-Richards & Trewick, 2022

Hegg, Danilo, Morgan-Richards, Mary & Trewick, Steven A., 2022, High alpine sorcerers: revision of the cave wētā genus Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae: Macropathinae), with the description of six new species and three new subspecies, European Journal of Taxonomy 808 (1), pp. 1-58 : 31-34

Pharmacus cochleatus fiordensis subsp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:91533C5F-726A-4A6E-A6C8-AC56E1DC7BF3

Figs 1–2 , 6 , 18B

Diagnosis

A mid-sized cave wētā found in the alpine regions of Fiordland and of Mt Aspiring National Park south of the Dart River, at elevations greater than 1200 m. Morphologically indistinguishable from Pharmacus cochleatus cochleatus comb. nov., but geographically separated and genetically distinct.

In Fiordland, Pharmacus cochleatus fiordensis subsp. nov. is sympatric with Pharmacus cristatus sp. nov. It is easily differentiated from the latter by its darker coloration and lack of prolateral apical spines on the fore and mid femora.

Across much of its range, P. cochleatus fiordensis overlaps with Notoplectron brewsterense comb. nov. The latter species has lighter colour, shorter legs with fewer spines on the hind tibiae and no dorsal spines on the first hind tarsus segment.

Etymology

‘ Fiordensis ’, inhabits Fiordland, the geographical region in the south-west corner of New Zealand.

Crowe (2002) refers to this insect as ‘black tumbling cave wētā’ in light of his observations of how “to escape danger, it leaps, then rolls down the scree to tumble into a gap between the stones”.

Material examined (see also Supp. file 1: Table S4)

Holotype NEW ZEALAND • ♂, adult; Fiordland (FD), Gertrude Saddle, Darran Mountains; 44.74521° S, 168.01649° E; 1300 m a.s.l.; 25 Mar. 2017; D. Hegg leg.; on rock bluffs; night search; GenBank: OM293697 ; NMNZ AI.052286 (prev. MPN CW3413).

Paratype NEW ZEALAND • 1 ♀, adult; Fiordland (FD), Mt Luxmore, Kepler Mountains; 45.38929° S, 167.59154° E; 1350 m a.s.l.; 22 Mar. 2019; D. Hegg leg.; on rock bluffs; night search + insect net; NMNZ AI.052287 (prev. MPN CW4398) .

Other material NEW ZEALAND – Fiordland (FD) • 1 ♀; Homer Saddle, Darran Mountains ; 44.760° S, 167.983° E; 1200 m a.s.l.; Jan. 2014; T. Jewell leg.; in dry cracks in rock bluff; hand collected in daylight; MPN CW2611 • 1 nymph; same collection data as for holotype; MPN CW3412 • 1 ♂; same collection data as for paratype; GenBank: OM293718 ; MPN CW4397 • 3 nymphs; same collection data as for paratype; MPN CW4547 to CW4549 . – Otago Lakes ( OL) • 1 ♀; Emily Peak, Ailsa Mountains ; 44.74594° S, 168.20446° E; 1800 m a.s.l.; 14 Feb. 2015; D. Hegg leg.; on snowgrass; photograph; iNaturalist 2421936 • 1 ♂; Ocean Peak, Ailsa Mountains ; 44.75041° S, 168.17270° E; 1300 m a.s.l.; 29 Oct. 2016; D. Hegg leg.; on large rocks in alpine basin; night search; GenBank: OM293687 ; MPN CW3135 • 1 ♂, 3 ♀♀, 1 nymph; same collection data as for preceding; MPN CW3133 , CW3134 , CW3136 , CW3137 , CW4127 • 1 ♀; Humboldt Mountains ; 44.74356° S, 168.21742° E; 1800 m a.s.l.; 8 Apr. 2017; D. Hegg leg.; on rock bluffs; night search; GenBank: OM293696 ; MPN CW3405 • 1 ♂; same collection data as for preceding; MPN CW3411 .

Description

MEASUREMENTS. See Table 1 .

Pharmacus cochleatus fiordensis subsp. nov. is morphologically almost identical to Pharmacus cochleatus cochleatus comb. nov. See the description for the latter. While Pharmacus cochleatus fiordensis subsp. nov. is a larger insect on average and tends to have a longer ovipositor in relation to body length, the overlap between the two subspecies’ physical dimensions is such that measurements cannot be used to discriminate between them.

Figures

Fig. 1. A. Genetic relationships of cave wētā support monophyly of the genus Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure, 1893. Gene tree from mtDNA sequences (~1500 bp of COI) using Maximum Likelihood with 1000 bootstraps and Macropathus filifer Walker, 1869 to root the tree. B. Map of South Island of New Zealand, showing locations of Pharmacus specimens used in phylogenetic analyses (Figs 1A, 2). Colours correspond to different species. Two letter codes indicate the New Zealand entomological regions (Crosby et al. 1998). These codes are reported in the Material examined section for each species.

Fig. 2. Gene tree for the eight morphologically identified species of Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure, 1893 using Maximum Likelihood analysis of ~850 bp of mtDNA (COI) from 60 specimens ofPharmacus.

Fig. 6. Known distribution of cave wētā in the genus Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure, 1893 in the south of the South Island, New Zealand.

Fig. 18. Map of South Island, New Zealand, showing the known distribution of cave wētā in the genus Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure, 1893. A–B. Solid shapes indicate material collected as part of this study; empty circles indicate additional locations of material examined by Richards (1972). B. Shapes represent different subspecies: dark blue circle = Pharmacus cochleatus cochleatus; light blue circle = Pharmacus cochleatus nauclerus subsp. nov.; diamond = Pharmacus cochleatus fiordensis subsp. nov.; triangle = Pharmacus cochleatus rawhiti subsp. nov.