Mortoniella pocita ( Flint, 1983 )

Blahnik, Roger J. & Holzenthal, Ralph W., 2017, Revision of the northern South American species of Mortoniella Ulmer 1906 (Trichoptera: Glossosomatidae: Protoptilinae) *, Insecta Mundi 2017 (602), pp. 1-251 : 71-72

Mortoniella pocita ( Flint, 1983)

Fig. 56

Mexitrichia pocita Flint, 1983: 8 ; Rueda Martín and Gibon 2008: 223 [reillustration, distribution]. Mortoniella pocita (Flint) : Blahnik and Holzenthal 2008: 69 [member of leroda group]; Blahnik and

Holzenthal 2011: 39 [redescription, reillustration, member of pocita subgroup].

This species was redescribed and reillustrated by Blahnik and Holzenthal (2011) and the reader is referred to that paper for the description. The illustration is included here for completeness of coverage. The species has the apex of the dorsal phallic spine enlarged, similar to some species of the limona subgroup. It differs from M. limona , and other species with this characteristic, in having a very elongate, curled dorsolateral processes on the phallicata.

Distribution — Argentina, Bolivia.

— punensis subgroup

Included species: Mortoniella armata (Jacquemart) ?; M. chalalan , n. sp.; M. dentiterga , n. sp.; M. emarginata , n. sp.; M. marini (Rueda Martín and Gibon) ; M punensis (Flint) ; M. sinuosa , n. sp.

This subgroup was proposed by Blahnik and Holzenthal (2011) to contain specifically M. punensis (Flint) and M. marini (Rueda Martín and Gibon) . A somewhat broader interpretation of the group is required to include the assemblage of species listed below and we are not altogether certain that all of the species placed here are closely related. The primary character used to indicate monophyly of the group is the structure of the dorsal processes of the phallicata, which have either elongate, digitate or spine-like processes, which seems to hold or direct the paramere appendages; in many of the species the paramere appendages are directed mesally, so that they cross over one another. Whether this is a native configuration, or an assumed state resulting from clearing the genitalia, is difficult to say. Upright processes from the ventral margin of the phallicata, previously discussed as a character of the group, seem to apply only to M. punensis and M. marini , which are undoubtedly closely related taxa. In general, the species in this group have the dorsal phallic spine somewhat depressed apically (dorsoventrally flattened); the apex may be somewhat asymmetrical in some species. The hind wing has either forks II and III present or fork II only (smaller species). The ventral process of segment VI is prominent and more distinctly posteriorly directed than in most other species subgroups of the leroda group ( M. sinuosa an exception). There is considerable variation among the species included here in the armature of the endophallic membrane, as for instance, presence or absence of a ventromesal spine, and whether 1 or 2 spines are present. There is also variation in the structure of the inferior appendages, and in the length of the spine-like apical processes of the mesal pockets. Mortoniella sinuosa is perhaps the most divergent of the taxa placed here, as noted in its description; its placement is speculative and based primarily on the presence of spine-like processes on the phallicata. Although M. pocita (Flint) and M. rectiflexa , n. sp. also possesses elongate dorsal processes on the phallicata, they differ enough from species of the subgroup to make their placement here doubtful. The former was placed in its own species subgroup by Blahnik and Holzenthal (2011) and the latter is included in the species listed as “unplaced to subgroup.” Mortoniella armata ( Jacquemart, 1963) , which is very inadequately illustrated and known only from Argentina, is speculatively included in this subgroup, largely because it seems to possess the elongate hooked processes on the dorsal margin of the phallicata that characterizes this group. Only fragments of the genitalia were illustrated in the original description. Flint et al. (1999) noted that the genitalia are missing from the holotype slide mount. The structure of the spines of the phallicata in M. armata (and apparently also the upright lobes from the phallicata) are very similar to M. punensis itself, but the structure of the dorsal phallic spine seems to be different (based on the original illustration) in being narrower in lateral view and lobed or divided apically.

Figures

Figure 56. Mortoniella (Mortoniella) pocita (Flint), male genitalia. A—lateral; B—segment IX and tergum X, dorsal; C—phallic ensemble, ventral; D—dorsal phallic spine, dorsal.