Revision of fossil Metretopodidae (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) in Baltic amber — Part 3: Description of two new species of Siphloplecton Clemens, 1915, with notes on the re-discovered lectotype of Siphloplecton macrops (Pictet-Baraban & Hagen, 1856)
Author
Staniczek, Arnold H.
Author
Godunko, Roman J.
text
Zootaxa
2016
4103
1
1
24
journal article
37181
10.11646/zootaxa.4103.1.1
45ee0817-ed3a-42b9-a487-d5de29650fb1
1175-5326
271142
89887981-7031-49C5-82C6-80C749BBF61C
Siphloplecton macrops
(
Pictet-Baraban & Hagen, 1856
)
Figures 1
A–C
For complete list of synonyms see
Staniczek & Godunko 2012
: 59
Material.
Lectotype
.
Male imago in Baltic amber (Eocene), MNB, MB.I.5150., specimen provided with 7 different labels (
Fig. 1
A, i–vii) that read as (“//” denotes line break):
(i) n◦ 14 Palingenia
macrops
// Tab. VI
Fig 2
(
ii/1
: front side) Holotyp // Paläontologisches Museum Berlin //
Siphloplecton macrops
// (
Pictet, 1856
) // Orig.
Pictet-Baraban & Hagen, 1856
// S. 74, Taf. 6,
Fig. 2
// Slg. BERENDT // b.w.
(
ii/2
: rear side) war ausgeliehen an // Illies, 1966; // zerstört zurück 1990
(iii) Hololectotype
(iv) MB.I.5150
(v) G. Demoulin detrev., 19567 //
Siphloplecton
//
macrops
// (PICTET) // ♂ imago
(vi) 7350 // Palingenia //
macrops
(vii) 7350
S. macrops
was described in 1856 from a
type
series of
11 specimens
from the Berendt collection (see
Fig.1
A, label (i) that most probably dates back to the original description).
Demoulin (1968)
in his revision of
Siphloplecton
noted that out of the original
type
series only
3 specimens
had survived in 1968. Georg Demoulin could identify the male imago that had been figured in
Pictet-Baraban & Hagen (1856)
. He redescribed and refigured this specimen (
Demoulin 1968, fig. 38
) and designated it as “hololectotype” (
Fig. 1
A, labels (iii), (v)) in an addendum that he attached to his original publication (see also
Staniczek & Godunko 2012
). Obviously, this specimen was forwarded to him by J. Illies (Schlitz) who had discovered it among fossil Plecoptera in the amber collection of MNB and took it on loan in 1966 (see
Fig.1
A, label (
ii/2
)).
During our own investigations of Berendt’s mayfly collection at the MNB in
2004 and 2008
this specimen was not traceable, so we assumed it might be lost (
Staniczek & Godunko 2012
). However, during our ongoing investigations at the MNB the lost
lectotype
was finally found in
November 2012
apart from the mayfly amber collection in a different, remotely located repository.
Our subsequent study of the rediscovered
lectotype
revealed that the specimen today appears to be even more damaged than described by
Demoulin (1968)
. The initial single piece of amber with the embedded body of
S. macrops
obviously split at some point, and there are four separate remaining pieces (
Fig. 1
B, i–iv). Two small pieces (
Fig. 1
B, i and ii) do not contain any inclusions. In the third, bigger amber fragment (
Fig.1
B, iii) some parts of left legs are visible. The biggest amber fragment (
Fig. 1
B, iv) contains parts of right foreleg, right forewing, prothorax, distal part of mesothorax, and slightly damaged head (arrow in
Fig. 1
B points to location of head that is enlarged visible in
Fig. 1
C).
Description of preserved body parts of
lectotype
.
Measurements (in mm): Length of left foreleg (right foreleg partly preserved, poorly visible): femur—2.25; tibia—2.10; tarsi* (* = preserved part): segment 1—1.35; left middle leg: femur*—2.03; tibia*—0.80; tarsi: segment 1*—0.52; segment 2*—0.40; segment 3—0.33; segment 4—0.23; segment 5—0.20; left hind leg: femur—1.80; tibia*—0.73.
FIGURE 1.
Siphloplecton macrops
(Pictet-Baraban & Hagen, 1856)
, MNB, MB.I.5150, lectotype, male imago: A—preserved amber pieces in storage box together with labels i–vii (top right corner shows rear side of label ii; B—four biggest pieces, only pieces iii and iv include parts of specimen, arrow points to location of head; C—head in dorsal view.
Very damaged specimen in relatively dark amber. Head light brown; eyes large, well preserved, medially contiguous; ocelli and antennae uniformly yellow to light brown, with irregular dirty brownish maculation (
Fig. 1
B, C).
Only small part of right forewing is preserved (central C, Sc, RS fields preserved on approx. 1/2–1/3 of wing length); transversal veins not visible. Only small distal part of mesothorax with mesonotal suture preserved, stretched backwards medially as typical for
Siphloplecton
. Right foreleg partly preserved, but part of tibia and first tarsal segment covered with “Verlumung” and poorly visible; only traces of tarsal segments and claws are preserved; tarsomere borders not visible. Left foretibia with hardly visible spines anteriorly.
Due to the poor preservation of the
lectotype
it is not possible to determine any distinguishing characters of
S. macrops
. For this reason, we confirm the restriction of the name
S. macrops
to this
lectotype
specimen and corroborate our previous descriptions of several new species from specimens formerly attributed to
S. macrops
(for additional details see
Staniczek & Godunko 2012
: 62–63).