A New Stonefly From Lebanon, Leuctra Cedrus Sp. N. (Plecoptera: Leuctridae)
Author
Vinçon, Gilles
55 Bd Joseph Vallier, F 38100 Grenoble, France E-mail: gvincon @ gmail. com
gvincon@gmail.com
Author
Dia, Aref
Faculty of Sciences 1. Lebanese University and National Council for Scientific Research, Beirut, Lebanon E-mail: Arefdia @ yahoo. com
Arefdia@yahoo.com
Author
Sivec, Ignac
Slovenian Museum of Natural History, Prešernova 20, P. O. Box 290, SLO- 1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia E-mail: isivec @ pms-lj. si
isivec@pms-lj.si
text
Illiesia
2014
10
1
1
5
journal article
http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4761087
82a57aa0-f648-4dc8-93ab-3384e396afa1
1854-0392
4761087
0F30852A-316C-421B-8816-39FC746AEBE6
Leuctra cedrus
Vinçon, Dia & Sivec
Material examined.
Holotype
male
: northern
Lebanon
,
western slope of Lebanon Mount
,
Abou Aali water basin
,
Ouâdi Qâdîcha tor.
,
500 m
above
Bcherré
vil.,
1500 m
a.s.l.
,
24.04.1996
, deposited in the Zoology Museum of Lausanne (
ZML
) (type locality = 4
th
site from top of map on
Fig. 1
).
One
female
paratype
,
El Kebir
water basin: near
Jabal Qammouaa Mount
,
Oudine
vil.,
Nsara
rheocren spr.,
1440 m
,
20.03.2008
,
1♀
(
ZML
) (1
st
site from top on
Fig.
1
).
Fig. 1. Map of Lebanon, with the collecting sites for
Leuctra cedrus
sp. n.
Other material
(from north to south on
Fig. 1
):
El Bared water basin
:
2 km
from Sir El Danniyeh vil., El Ksaim spr.,
1050 m
,
20.04.1997
,
1♀
(DIA).
Source Sir,
29.03.1997
,
1♂
(PMSL).
Abou Aali water basin:
Qâdîcha tor.,
500 m
> Bcherré vil.,
1500 m
a.s.l.,
24.04.1996
,
1♂
(VIN);
20.02.1996
,?
1 larva
(PMSL);
9.03.1997
,
2♂
,
1♀
(PMSL).
Ibrahim water basin
:
5 km
N. Afqa vil., Rouais spr.,
1300 m
,
9.03.2002
,
1♂
(PMSL).
Aouali (Awali) water basin
: Aouali River at Jdaidet ech Choûf bridge,
710 m
,
18.02.1982
,
1♀
(PMSL);
near El Moukhtàra village, rheocren karstic spr. (Mourched spr.) and Qachàqich br.,
800 m
,
19.01.1980
,
1♂
exuviae (PMSL);
between Hâret Jandal et de Bâter ech Choûf vil., rheocren karstic spr. (Abou Kharma) and Ouâdi el Blaiyet br.,
850 m
, st 11,
19.01.1980
,?
1 larva
; near Jezzîne, Aazibi spr. and Nahr Aaray tor.,
990 m
, st 13a,
5.03.1980
,?
1 larva
(PMSL);
11.4.1982
,
1♀
(DIA).
Figs. 2a-c.
L. cedrus
sp. n.
: male abdomen in dorsal view (a), lateral view (b), paraprocts in ventral view (c).
Description
. Medium sized
Leuctra
species
:
♂
body length
4,5-7 mm
,
♀
6,5-7,5 mm
. Fore wing length
♂
5- 6,8 mm
,
♀
7 mm
. General colour brown. Head brown, slightly darker on the front. Antennae blackish, covered with a crown of long erect bristles at the tip of each segment; bristles as long as segment width. Pronotum brown with dark pattern. Legs yellow but tarsi, basal and distal parts of femora and tibiae contrastingly dark brown; tarsal segments brown. Body, veins of wings and legs covered with long erect hairs.
Male abdomen.
(
Figs 2
a-c): tergites I-VI simple, tergites VII-X modified. Tergite VII slightly bulged in lateral view (
Fig. 2b
) and with narrow posterior membranous stripe (
Fig. 2a
). Tergite VIII with dark trapezoidal process widening distally and supported by two strong arms hardly prominent in lateral view (
Figs 2
a-b) and slightly separated in two parts by a small posterior triangular incision more or less visible according to the specimen. Tergite IX: antecosta divided for nearly a third of segment’s width; membranous median field with median butterfly-shaped sclerite. Tergite X anteriorly bilobed and with wide rounded posterior notch where epiproct is placed. Cerci rather short, covered with long erect setae. Epiproct rounded with short stalk (
Fig. 2a
). Styles of paraprocts with rounded base and long thin expansion gently curved toward tip (
Figs 2
b-c). Specilla long and thin, clearly longer than styles, rectilinear near the base and progressively curved toward tip, ending in sharp point (
Figs 2
b-c). Sternite IX: vesicle normal sized, racket shaped (
Fig. 2b
).
Fig. 3.
L. cedrus
sp. n.
: female subgenital plate in ventral view.
Female abdomen.
(
Fig. 3
): sternite VII with wide bellshaped bulged median sclerite and two small comma-shaped sclerites near the anterior edge, laterally. Sternite VIII: subgenital plate less long than wide, with sinuate edges, conspicuous median swelling, and two posterior well developed lobes separated by a large notch, about as wide as the width of one lobe (
Fig. 3
). Lobes trapezoidal, strongly widening toward tip and with well-developed inner rounded expansions; posterior edge of the lobes nearly rectilinear. Plate poorly sclerotized medially except strongly sclerotized lobes (
Fig. 3
).
Affinities.
In the
L. hippopus
group,
L. cedrus
sp. n.
appears rather isolated. The strong median process of tergite VIII is similar to that of several species:
L. holzschuhi
Theischinger, 1976
from
Iran
,
L. meyi
Braasch, 1981
from Caucasus,
L. transsylvanica
Kis, 1964
from Carpathians,
L. joosti
Braasch, 1970
from Balkans,
L. niveola
Schmid, 1947
and
L. queyrassiana
Ravizza & Vincon, 1991
from the Alps, however it is clearly different in shape from all of these and the genitalia are also obviously different. In the female, the rounded well developed lobes of the subgenital plate are similar to that of
L. elisabethae
Ravizza, 1985
, but the tip of the lobes are conspicuously wider in
L. cedrus
sp. n.
(
Fig. 3
).
Geographical distribution and ecology.
L. cedrus
sp. n.
is a micro-endemic, cold stenothermal species confined to karstic rheocrene springs and torrents on the western slope of Mount
Lebanon
(
Figs. 1
,
4
). The flight period extends in early spring (II-IV).
Etymology.
This species is dedicated to the Lebanese highly symbolic tree
Cedrus libanicus
.