Description of Epipleoneura spatulata Rácenis, 1960 female

Figs. 1c (hab), 2g–h (ptx), 3d (pmp)

Material examined. 2♀♀ (1♀ collected in tandem and compared with the additional examined females), Brazil, Amazonas, Barcelos, Igarapé nº15, U.G. Neiss leg. (INPA); 1♀ (described here) Brazil, Amazonas, Barcelos, Rio Aracá, 28.vii.2009, C. Monteiro leg. (INPA); 1♀ Brazil, Amazonas, Serra do Aracá (Barco), 16.vii.2009, U.G. Neiss leg. (INPA).

Head (Figs. 1c, 2 g–h). Metallic green dorsally, postocular area light green; antennifer with distal half brown, basal half pale; frons slightly angulate; antefrons pale with two lateral brown spots; postclypeus metallic green, anteclypeus pale with small brown areas on posterior margin; upper half of labrum light brown with three darker spots, basal half pale; genae pale; rear of head light brown bordering eyes, remainder pale; labrum and maxilla pale light brown.

Thorax (Figs. 2 g–h, 3d). Prothorax metallic green dorsally with a black stripe immediately below notopleural suture becoming paler ventrally; posterior margin of prothorax entire, medial portion flat, with two erect lateral projections. Mesepisternum metallic green; mesinfraepisternum pale with a dark central area; mesepimeron metallic green with a pale thin stripe dorsally and pale areas ventrally; metepisternum pale with a thin dark stripe ventrally; metepimeron and pterothoracic venter pale.

Legs (Fig. 1c). Coxae and trochanters pale; remainder of legs pale, except for dark areas on apical femora.

Wings (Fig. 1c). Hyaline, venation dark brown; MP ending 1/3 cell distally from the vein descending from subnodus; IR2 and RP3 separated by a short crossvein three cells posteriorly to their origin; divergence of RP1-RA (arculus) slightly distal to Ax 2 in FW and HW; IR1 beginning at Px 7; RP2 beginning at Px 4 in FW and at Px 3 in HW; pt brown, about 4/5 length of underlying cell in FW, the same size of underlying cell in HW; 9 Px in FW, 7 in HW.

Abdomen (Fig. 1c). S1–10 dorsally brown, gradually pale ventrally; S1–2 with a dark distal ring; S3–7 with a light yellow basal ring and a distal brown ring, S7 with basal ring darker; S8–9 dorsal 2/3 brown, ventral 1/3 pale/ light yellow; S10, cerci and epiproct dark brown. Ovipositor apex slightly surpassing S10 distal margin, styli yellow, genital valves with ventral crenulation.

Measurements. Total 26.5; abdomen 22; FW 16; HW 15.

Variation among examined females: coloration with variation on amount of thoracic pale areas, and body morphology identical; total length 24.3–28; abdomen 21–23; FW 16–16.2; HW 15–15.4. One female with 8 Px in FW and 7 in HW.

Diagnostic characters. The female of E. spatulata can be distinguished from known congeneric females by the following characters: medial portion of posterior margin of prothorax posteriorly oriented, flat (Fig. 2h), and lateral portions forming two smoothly erect projections (Figs. 2 h, 3d).

Habitat and ecology. Habitat of E. spatulata is similar to other congeneric species: shaded areas in riparian vegetation along slow lotic environments (Rácenis 1960).

Remarks. Among the females in Group 1 (Table 1), the female of E. spatulata is morphologically similar to that of E. williamsoni, although they can be easily distinguished. In the female of E. williamsoni, the posterior margin of prothorax forms two erect horn-like structures laterally in contrast with its flat middle portion (Fig. 3e). Females of Epipleoneura spatulata have the lateral portions only smoothly erected and it’s the only species of this genus thus far known to show this unique morphology (Fig. 3d). The female of E. manauensis is the only member of Group 1 with a V-shaped cleft on the posterior margin of prothorax (Fig. 3c) thus bisecting the two rounded erect lateral lobes. In contrast, females of E. angeloi (Fig. 3a) and E. haroldoi (Fig. 3b) have posterior margins of prothorax not erect, differing from each other by the smoothly curved margin of E. angeloi (Fig. 3a) and the nearly straight margin in E. haroldoi (Fig. 3b). The female of E. angeloi was described by association; therefore, the examined female was not included among the types by Pessacq & Costa (2010). In a survey in Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso state (type locality) DSV, RGF, Thais Almeida and Adolfo Cordero-Rivera (ACR) collected several Epipleoneura specimens, among those, ACR collected two mating couples of E. angeloi. The male and female pairs agreed completely with Pessacq & Costa’s description thus confirming their association. Some slight differences in coloration patterns were observed in E. angeloi (Figs. 1a and 2a, b) but females of all five species exhibit a similar coloration (Figs. 1 a–d, 2a–j), and some intraspecific color variation exists among the examined material, indicating that they may go through ontogenetic color changes. Based on literature (Lencioni 2005, 2017; Pessacq & Costa 2010; Pessacq et al. 2012; Pessacq 2014), species of Group 1 are distributed throughout all of Brazil, except for the Southern region (Fig. 4): E. spatulata, E. haroldoi and E. manauensis also occur outside Brazil (Rácenis 1960; De Marmels 1989; Ussa & Realpe 2016; von Ellenrieder et al. 2017), and E. williamsoni is the most widespread species within Brazil, occurring in at least six states within four regions. Finally, E. angeloi is restricted to the Center- Western region of Brazil.

Additional material examined. Epipleoneura angeloi: 2♀♀. Brazil, Mato Grosso, Chapada dos Guimarães (-15.2846, -55.9972), 26.x.2015, A. Cordero-Rivera leg. (ECOEVO); Epipleoneura haroldoi: 2♀♀ Brazil, Ama- zonas, Manacapuru, 25.iii.2008, U.G. Neiss leg. (INPA); 1♀ Brazil, Amazonas, Manaus (suspended trap), 21– 24.v.2008, U.G. Neiss leg. (INPA); Epipleoneura manauensis: 1♀ Brazil, Pará, Tailândia, Agropalma Property (-2.6183, -48.8301), 31.x.2016, D.S. Vilela, A. Rivas-Torres, A. Cordero-Rivera leg. (LESTES); 1♀ Brazil, Amazo- nas, Manaus, vi.2017, S. Bybee, R. Guillermo-Ferreira leg, (LESTES); 1♀ Brazil, Amazonas, Manacapuru (malaise trap), 27.iii.2008, U.G. Neiss leg. (INPA); 1♀ Brazil, Amazonas, Barcelos, Igarapé Cuieiras, 27.vii.2009, C. Mon- teiro leg. (INPA); Epipleoneura williamsoni: 1♀ Brazil, Pará, Tailândia (-2.4794, -48.7063), 20.x.2016, D.S. Vilela, I. Amorim, A. Rivas-Torres, A. Cordero-Rivera leg. (ECOEVO); 1♀ Brazil, Minas Gerais, Uberlândia, CCPIU (-18.9833, -48.2955), ii.2008, F. Camelo leg. (LESTES).

Final considerations. Pablo Pessacq (pers. comm.) is conducting a morphological phylogenetic study on Epipleoneura. The results of which may enable us to better understand the relationships within the genus, and perhaps whether the species groups of Pessacq (2014), such as the hereby studied Group 1, are monophyletic or artificial constructs.