Mesoplocia inaccessibile ( Kluge and Naranjo, 1994 )

L, Carlos Naranjo, Peters, Janice G., del, Pedro López & Castillo, 2019, Ephemeroptera (Insecta) in Cuba, Insecta Mundi 2019 (736), pp. 1-52 : 16

A.26. Mesoplocia inaccessibile ( Kluge and Naranjo, 1994)

Figures 13 , 53 .

Euthyplocia inaccessibile Kluge and Naranjo 1994:778 (male, nymph).

Holotype. Male, Province Santiago de Cuba, Arroyo Paco (Palma Mocha), 16-V-1985, C. Naranjo.

The large nymphs are easily recognized by the long mandibular tusks. The female is unknown; however, from examination of mature nymphs it is evident that the wing venation of the female resembles that of the male, and the median caudal filament is also reduced. In 1965, the species was collected a second time: 2 male imagos, Río Cayo Guam, Prov. Holguín, 10-VIII-1995, col. R. Teruel ( Naranjo and Teruel 2001). Later, two nymphs were collected from Arroyo 26, La Bayamesa (Sierra Maestra), Prov. Santiago de Cuba, March 2004, col. P. López ( López et al. 2004, 2005).

Ecology. Nymphs were originally collected from a pool in the Arroyo Paco at a depth between 10 and 15 cm partially burrowing in mud between rocks on the river bottom ( Naranjo 1986). Later, nymphs were found in a different microhabitat in the Bayamesa Massif under rocks in headwaters of “ Arroyo el 26” near Bayamesa Peak ( López et al. 2004). This species has a broad altitudinal distribution but seems more common in crystal clear, cold, and well oxygenated streams. From collection data (mature nymphs in February and March, adults in May and August), M. inaccessibile appears to have a univoltine life cycle.

Geographic distribution. The species is an endemic in the Eastern Region with a disjunct distribution between a few adjacent localities in the Sierra Maestra and a similarly isolated population in the Nipe-Sagua-Baracoa Massif ( Fig. 13 ). It is also reported from the Dominican Republic ( Naranjo and Peters 2016).

Figures

Figures 10–13. Distribution records for Ephemeroptera in Cuba.10) Careospina hespera hespera, C.h. sierramaestrae, C. minuta. 11) Careospina baconaoi, C. evanescens. 12) Traverina cubensis, T. oriente. 13) Mesoplocia inaccessibile.

Figures 53–57. Euthyplociidae and Leptohyphidae. 53) Mesoplocia inaccessibile. 53a) Head. 53b) Habitus. 54) Tricorythodes grallator. 54a) Habitus. 54b) Foreleg. 55) Foreleg. 55a) Tricorythodes sacculobranchis. 55b) T. cubensis. 56) Tricorythodes sierramaestrae, operculate gill cover.57) Tricorythodes sacculobranchis. 57a)Operculate gill cover. 57b) Habitus. 57c) Detail of abdominal terga 3–10 with operculate gills. Figure 56–57a after Kluge and Naranjo 1990.