Description of the full-grown larva and barcode of Athripsodes taounate taounate Dakki & Malicky 1980 (Trichoptera: Leptoceridae), an Iberic-Maghrebian endemic. Author Ruiz-García, Antonio Departamento de Biología y Geología. IES Padre Luis Coloma. Av. alcalde Álvaro Domecq, 10, 11402 Jerez de la Frontera. Cádiz, Spain. Author Lara-Rodríguez, Andrés 0000-0002-5282-1260 Departamento de Biología Molecular e ingeniería Bioquímica / Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo. Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013 Sevilla, Spain. andreslarro97@gmail.com Author Garzón, Andrés 0000-0003-4299-7198 Departamento de Biología Molecular e ingeniería Bioquímica / Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo. Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013 Sevilla, Spain. agarvil@upo.es text Zootaxa 2024 2024-02-21 5415 2 309 320 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5415.2.5 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.5415.2.5 1175-5326 10693086 5DBDD8CE-26F0-4432-B9DA-DAE98DFED23D Description of the final (fifth) instar larva of Athripsodes taounate taounate Dakki & Malicky, 1980 ( Figs 1–18 ) Biometry. Body length of final instar larva 10.5–12.0 mm, head width 0.78–0.89 mm (n = 5). Head. Head capsule elongate and hypognathous; yellowish with pair of dark bands overlying and lateral of frontoclypeal sutures, converging posteriorly and reaching coronal suture; muscle attachment spots dark brown and round, with well-defined outlines. arranged in dark bands and posterolaterally on parietalia ( Fig. 1 ). Head capsule with complete set of primary setae. Frontoclypeus narrow and triangular with constriction at eye level; three pairs of muscle attachment spots on anterior third and five on posterior two-thirds. Subocular ecdysial line ( Fig. 2 , black arrow) on each side running from frontoclypeal suture anterior of eye downward, then below eye to occipital foramen, making pale gap in dark margin of occipital foramen. Antennae uncharacteristically small for family, originating from socket-like ridge at anterior edge of parietalia ( Fig. 2 , red arrow), each bearing apical seta longer than basal sclerite of antenna. Labrum yellowish, subquadrangular with round apicolateral corners; anterior margin broadly concave; four pairs of setae inserted on dorsal surface. Ventral apotome chestnut brown, elongate, subtriangular; tapered to mid-length and nearly parallel-sided in posterior half; posterior apex with arrowheadshaped tip; adjacent parts of ventral parietalia very dark ( Fig. 4 ). Dark brown mandibles twice as long as wide, each with two setae near lateral base, proximal seta shorter than distal seta, and with two cutting edges, one dorsal and one ventral ( Fig. 3 ). TABLE 1. Intra- and interspecific uncorrected pairwise distances (p) in % of nucleotide differences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtCOI) gene recorded for the sequenced Athripsodes tauonate taounate specimens of the Iberian Peninsula and other, previously sequenced European specimens, with GenBank and Boldsystems accession numbers. * = specimens sequenced in this study; M = male; L = larva.

Species	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Acc. number
1. Athripsodes braueri	HM395952.1
2. Athripsodes cinereus	6.899	MW459908.1
3. Athripsodes aterrimus	14.715	14.897	HM395761.1
4. Athripsodes bilineatus	13.897	15.065	15.843	KX296553.1
5. Athripsodes albifrons	16.991	15.284	16.115	11.362	KX104615.1
6. Athripsodes commutatus	15.352	14.980	15.580	11.632	9.856	UMNEB118-08
7. Athripsodes alentexanus	0.411	6.893	14.537	14.213	17.144	15.336	IBITR437-20
8. Athripsodes tavaresi	14.198	13.652	18.529	15.649	16.050	17.722	14.541	IBITR268-20
9. Athripsodes inaequalis	10.932	11.377	14.545	14.386	16.484	16.111	10.924	12.162	IBITR137-20
10. Athripsodes taounate *	11.682	OR669954
(L)	7.351	7.763	14.688	15.041	16.069	16.267	7.646	14.441
11. Athripsodes taounate *	7.351	7.763	14.688	15.041	16.069	16.267	7.646	14.441	11.682	0.000	OR669953
(M)

Thorax. Pronotum with pair of yellowish sclerites, each sclerite with dark brown muscle attachment spots in posterior half and prominent spot in middle; posterior margin black; about 27–30 setae restricted to anterior half of surface; anterior margin with row of 50–60 pale setae of unequal length ( Figs 5, 6 ); prosternal horn lacking ( Figs 7 , 13 ). Mesonotum with pair of yellowish sclerites, each with dark brown muscle attachment spots anteriorly and with black and diagonal mesonotal bar posterolaterally; each mesonotal sclerite with 30–35 setae concentrated on anterior half ( Figs 6 , 12 ); mesosternum without any setae ( Figs 7 , 13 ). Metanotum unsclerotized, with pair of anterolateral groups of sa 3 setae each with 17–21 setae and posteromedian quartet of sa 1 setae of almost equal length ( Figs 6 , 12 , red arrows); metasternum with 1 pair of submedian setae ( Fig. 7 , red arrows). Legs yellowish brown, fore- and mid- and hind legs successively longer with all tarsi curved and slender but never hooked; coxa, femur and tibia of each foreleg robust and broader than those of other legs ( Figs 8 , 9 ); each foretrochantin elongate with single black seta at distal margin ( Fig 5 , red arrow); ventral edge of each foretibia with two–three pale setae in addition to single thick spine at distal end ( Fig. 11 , black arrows). Trochanters of mid- and hind legs each divided into short proximal and longer distal sections ( Fig. 8 , black arrows). Hind femora each divided into short proximal section and longer distal section. Anterior faces of hind trochanters and femora without many short dagger-shaped setae ( Fig. 10 ); numerous setae on coxae, trochanters, and femora of hind legs but long setal fringes for swimming lacking. Abdomen. Membranous areas nearly white, sclerotized areas brown. First abdominal segment with two lateral and one dorsal protuberance (variably deflated, Figs 13 with black arrow; 16 with red arrow), lateral protuberances each with one pair of long black setae anteriorly ( Fig. 16 , red arrow) and numerous very tiny spines anteriorly on distinctive, very dark bar, its anterior end downward-curving about 90° and with seta at end ( Figs 13 , black arrow, 16, red arrow), its posterior end horizontal. Lateral fringe present on each side of segments III–VII, consisting of very short, pale hairs; lateral fringe on each side of segment II represented by two short black setae and on segment VIII by row of very short lateral tubercles ( Fig. 18 , black arrows; Wiggins 1996 ). Abdominal tergum VIII with four posterodorsal setae, submesal pair long ( Figs 14 & 18 , red arrows) and sublateral pair very short ( Fig. 18 , red arrow). Abdominal tergite IX well sclerotized and pentagonal, with ten setae on posterior margin, four pairs (1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th pairs) long and one pair (3rd pair) shorter ( Fig. 14 ); one posterolateral seta present on each side of abdominal dorsum IX ( Fig. 14 , black arrows). Each lateral sclerite of last abdominal segment with five long setae and four or five short setae; anal region without rows of spines and tooth-edged plates; anal claws each with accessory hook ( Fig. 15 ). Tufted gills each with nine–thirteen filaments, except gills on each side of abdominal segment I with one anterior ventrolateral filament and three anterior subventral filaments ( Fig. 13 , red arrows); positions of gill tufts in abdominal segments I–III shown in Table 3 and Figs 12, 13 , 16 . Case. Larval case 13–14 mm long (n = 5), curved, tapered (width at anterior opening 2.1–2.5 mm and at posterior opening 1.1–1.5 mm ), composed of mineral grains of different sizes that give it an irregular texture ( Fig. 17 ). Posterior opening closed by silken membrane with almost circular central foramen. DNA analyses. The analysis of the mtCOI barcode region of one male of A. taounate taounate from Benamahoma ( Spain ) ( GenBank accession number: OR669953) and one previously unknown larva collected in the same locality ( GenBank accession number: OR669954) showed a genetic distance of 0.00% ( Table 1 ). These values fit well within the intraspecific variability of mtCOI usually observed in caddisflies ( Pauls et al . 2009 , 2010 ; Previšić et al . 2009 , 2014 ). Moreover , the uncorrected p-distances based on the mtCOI gene of these two individuals and other previously sequenced European specimens are in line with interspecific distances commonly reported in Leptoceridae ( Kučinić et al . 2020 ; Ruiz-García et al . 2022 ).