Massartella venezuelensis Pescador & Peters, 1990

Boldrini, Rafael & Lima, Lucas Ramos Costa, 2022, Male subimago of Massartella venezuelensis Pescador & Peters, 1990 (Ephemeroptera: Leptophlebiidae), Zootaxa 5205 (3), pp. 297-300 : 297-299

Massartella venezuelensis Pescador & Peters, 1990

( Figs. 1–2 )

Massartella venezuelensis — Pescador & Peters 1990: 155; Derka 2002: 315.

Diagnosis. The male subimago of M. venezuelensis can be distinguished from the other species by the following characters: 1) Cubital area without cross veins ( Fig. 1C ); 2) Terga I–VIII each with a pair of dark brown maculae on medial and lateral area; tergum IX with anterior margin yellowish and posterior margin dark brown ( Fig. 1A ); penis lobes apically pointed, with subapical projection laterally ( Fig. 2B ).

Male subimago. Description.

LENGTH: body: 12.5–12.8mm; forewing: 13.8–14.9 mm; hind wing: 1.9–2.3 mm.

HEAD. Dorsal region yellowish; ventral region whitish with black marks. Upper portion of compound eyes reddish brown, lower portion black ( Fig. 1A ); ocelli translucent white, surrounded with black semicircles. Scape and pedicel of antenna reddish brown, flagellum blackish brown.

THORAX. Pronotum whitish yellow, with pair of medial longitudinal black stripes. Mesonotum light brown ( Fig. 1A ); longitudinal medial, anterolateral scutal, lateroparapsidal and medioparapsidal sutures dark brown; posterior scutal protuberance, scuto-scutellar impression and scutellum light brown. Pleura brown washed with dark brown, membranous area yellowish ( Fig. 1B ). Metanotum light brown with posterior margin dark brown ( Fig. 1A ). Sterna yellowish brown, sutures darker. Wings membrane hyaline. Forewing with longitudinal veins and cross veins brown; costal brace and base of veins C, Sc and anal section darker; intercalaries of Cu area without cross veins; costal area with 28 cross veins ( Fig. 1C ). Hind wing with costal projection absent ( Figs. 1D–E ); longitudinal and cross veins dark brown; costal region translucent, with four cross veins ( Fig. 1E ). Legs: orangish; coxae and trochanters yellowish washed with brown; femora orangish with broad posteromedian and apical dark brown bands; tibiae darker than femora and tarsi; prothoracic tarsus orangish, basally yellowish; meso- and metathoracic tarsi yellowish with apical areas orangish ( Fig. 1B ).

ABDOMEN. Terga yellowish ( Fig. 1B ). Terga I–VIII each with pair of dark brown maculae on medial and lateral area; tergum IX with anterior margin yellowish and posterior margin dark brown; tergum X dark brown ( Figs. 1A–B ). Sterna yellowish, with medial dark brown on sterna V-IX. Genitalia ( Figs. 2A ). Styliger plate yellowish with deep, Ushaped posteromedian emargination. Forceps segments orangish, segment III paler. Penes yellowish, penis lobes apically pointed, with subapical projection laterally ( Fig. 2B ). Caudal filaments dark orange (except basal region yellowish), without brown annulations.

Female and male imagos. Unknown.

Material Examined. BRAZIL, • Three ♂ anD four ♀ (subimaGo); Roraima, Uiramutã, Parque Nacional Monte Roraima , igarapé da ponte do acampamento; 05°12’45.2”N/60°59’73.7”W; alt. 1030 m; 8-20.xii.2019; Boldrini, R. leg., Xavier, F.F., Oliveira M.L. col; Malaise trap. BRAZIL, seven nymphs; Roraima, Uiramutã, Parque Nacional Monte Roraima, igarapé da ponte do acampamento 5°12’45.2”N/60°59’73.7”W; alt. 1030 m; 8-20.xii.2019; Boldrini, R. leg. col; Rede D trap .

Distribution. Venezuela. New record from Roraima State, Brazil.

Life cycle associations. The tentative association between male subimago, female subimago and nymph was made by shared abdominal color pattern. Besides that, both stages were collected in the same locality.

Discussion. After studying the material collected, we identified the nymphs and the female subimagos based on the morphological characteristics and color pattern described by Pescador & Peters (1990). Furthermore, specimens collected in Brazil were found in a forest region of the rainforest at 1030 m elevation, consistent with recent research by Gatti et al. (2022), who found similar occurrence data for this species. Thus, we came to the conclusion that our specimens belong to M. venezuelensis .

Male subimagos of Massartella normally exhibit very similar characteristics to those of the male imagos, except for slight variations in body coloration pattern and forceps length, as described by Pescador & Peters (1990). The male subimago of M. venezuelensis has similarities with the male imago of M. brieni such as the wing membrane being hyaline with cross veins not clouded, the Cu area of fore wings with little or no network of crossveins ( Fig. 1C ), and dark maculae being present on abdominal terga ( Fig. 1A–B ). Nevertheless, M. venezuelensis can be differentiated by the shape of the posterior margin of the styliger plate (with a deep U-shaped posteromedian emargination, in contrast to shallow emargination in M. brieni ), apical area of penis (blunt and prominent in M. brieni , but pointed and not projected in M. venezulensis ), and the number of costal cross veins on hind wing (four in M. venezuelensis and 13 in M. brieni ).

Figures

FIGURE 1A–E. Male subimago of M. venezuelensis. A, habitus in dorsal view; B, habitus in lateral view; C, forewing; D, hind wing; E, hind wing enlarged.

FIGURE 2A–B. Subimaginal male genitalia of M. venezuelensis. A, genitalia in ventral view; B, detail of penis.