Anacroneuria barinas, Stark & Zúñiga, 2014

Stark, Bill P. & Zúñiga, Maria del Carmen, 2014, New Species And Records Of Colombian, Ecuadorian And Venezuelan Anacroneuria (Plecoptera: Perlidae), With A Review Of The Anacroneuria Aymara Stark & Sivec Complex, Illiesia 10 (8), pp. 66-79 : 68-70

Anacroneuria barinas sp. n.

( Figs. 1-5 , 21 )

Material examined. Holotype ♂, Venezuela, Barinas State, 15 km W Altamira de Caceras , 1000 m, 30 December 1985, P. Kevarik, R. Jones ( USNM) . Paratype: Venezuela: Barinas State, 10 km southeast of Miri , 8 February 1970, 150 m, S.L. Wood, 1♂ ( BYUC) .

Adult habitus. General color brown with yellow to yellow-brown markings. Lappets dark brown, frons yellow-brown with slightly darker, diffuse-brown area forward of ocelli ( Fig. 1 ). Pronotum brown over much of disc, but pale laterally and along median suture. Wings pale amber with darker veins; C and Sc pale amber. Dorsum of legs brown, but pale along ventral margins.

Male. Forewing length 9-10 mm. Hammer thimble shaped, height greater than apical diameter ( Fig. 2 ). Aedeagal apex truncate, slightly emarginate, simple, but bearing a ventral pair of small membranous lobes ( Fig. 3 ), and a distinctive pair of dorsal keel lines which meet at midlength and curve outward nearer apex, approximating a Y-shape ( Fig. 5 ). Dorsolateral margins along keel lines slant steeply to ventrolateral base, and apices of keel lines extend to midlength of apex in lateral aspect ( Fig. 4 ) and form a slight marginal incision in subapical profile. Hooks subchelate ( Fig. 3 ); apex of right hook of holotype (in ventral aspect) broken.

Female. Unknown.

Larva. Unknown.

Etymology. The species name, used as a noun in apposition, is based on the Venezuelan state in which the holotype was collected.

Diagnosis. The dorsal keel of the new species is almost identical to that of A. toni Zúñiga & Stark 2002 , but the aedeagus of that species has a slight subapical constriction causing the truncate apex to be wider than the subapical area. In A. barinas , the lateral subapical aedeagal margins narrow to a slightly emarginate apex ( Figs. 3-5 ).

Comments. One of us (BPS) first studied the specimen now designated as holotype from the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University, in 1998, and labelled it “ Anacroneuria n. sp. ” Recently, it was returned for additional study through the courtesy of R.W. Baumann, and a second specimen, collected by S.L. Wood from a nearby site was also included. Both sites are located in the Cordillera de Mérida, the highest mountain range in the Venezuelan Andes. The species is a member of the A. aymara complex ( Maldonado et al. 2002; Zúñiga & Stark 2002; Zúñiga et al. 2006; Stark et al. 2012), which currently includes the species listed in Table 1 . Distributions (by Department, Province or State) for these 12 species are shown in Figs. 20-23 . The key below will assist in recognition of male specimens assigned to this complex.

Figures

Figs. 1-5. Anacroneuria barinas male. 1. Head and pronotum. 2. Sternum 9 with hammer. 3. Aedeagus, ventral. 4. Aedeagus, lateral. 5. Aedeagus, dorsal.

Figs. 20-23. Distribution of Anacroneuria aymara group species.