Protoneura ailsa Donnelly 1961

Protoneura ailsa Donnelly, 1961

Figs. 1 (♂ habitus), 25 (♀ habitus), 47 (♀ mes. plate), 71 (gen. lig.), 97 (♂ app), 120 (map)

Protoneura ailsa Donnelly, 1961: 119 –121, Figs. 1–7 (description of ♂ and ♀, illustrations of body, wings, ♂ S10 and ♀ mesostigmal plates);— Donnelly (1970: 15–17, Figs. 21–24; description of last stadium larva from Dominica);— Paulson (1982: 260; Lesser Antillies);— Meurgey (2005: 35–37, 40, 42, 45, 56, 58, 63–64, 66, 71, 78; Martinique);— Meurgey (2006a: 16; French West Indies);— Meurgey (2006b: 372, Figs. 7–9; diagnosis from P. romanae, illustrations of ♂ S10 and ♀ mesostigmal plates);—Meurgey et al. (2006: 17, 32, 135, Figs. 3, 15; Martinique, illustration wing, color photo);— Meurgey (2008: 279–282; redescription of larva and biology);—Meurgey et al. (2008: 15, 16; Martinique, note on habitat);— Garrison et al. (2010: 379);— Meurgey & Picard (2011: 229–231; color photos in life, characterization, habitat, biology, distribution);— Meurgey & Poiron (2012: 310; Dominica, Martinique, and Saint Lucia); Meurgey (2013: 302, 305, 326; distribution).

Primary types. Holotype ♂: Saint Lucia: Castries Quarter, upper Cul de Sac River near Bexon {13°55'S, 60°58'W}, 7 ix 1957, A. & T.W. Donnelly leg. [FSCA].

Specimens examined. 69 ♂ 13 ♀: DOMINICA, St. Andrew Parish: 1 ♂, Clarke Hall {15°33' N, 61°18' W}, 31 v 1966, G. Steyskal leg. [USNM]; 1 ♂, trail up Mannet Gutter near Clarke Hall, 5 iv 1964, O.S. Flint leg. [USNM]; 1 ♀, wooded trail above Clarke Hall, 4 iv 1964, O.S. Flint, leg. [USNM]; St. Joseph Parish: 2 ♂, Cafe, across river from Clarke Hall, 6 vi 1964, T.W. Donnelly leg. [RWG]; 2 ♂, same data but [FSCA]; 26 ♂ 2 ♀ (one pair in copula), same data but 8 vi 1964, O.S. Flint leg. [USNM]; 1 ♂, Dlean Morne Laurent, in pools, 1 iii 1964, H.H. Hobbs Jr. leg. [USNM]; St. Paul Parish: 1 ♂, 1.3 mi E of Pont Casse {15°22' N, 61°20' W, 595 m}, 1 vi 1964, T.W. Donnelly leg. [FSCA]; 6 ♂, same data but 22 v 1964, O.S. Flint leg. [USNM]; 5 ♂, Mannett Gutter, 11 iv 1964, O.S. Flint leg. [USNM]; 10 ♂ 1 ♀ (one pair in tandem), same data but 1 v 1964 [USNM]. MARTINIQUE: 1 ♂ 1 ♀, Le Precheur, Trace du Precheur, at parking lot (14°50' N, 61°12' W, 354 m), 18 iii 2008, F. Meurgey leg. [RWG]; 2 ♂ 2 ♀, Saint Joseph, Bahuau, Riviere Lozarde (14°41'26'' N, 61°3'30'' W, 278 m), 2 iii 2005, F. Meurgey leg. [RWG]; 1 ♂ 1 ♀, Trois-Ilets, Anse Mitan, Golf de Trois-Ilets (14°32'18'' N, 61°2'13'' W, 25 m), F. Meurgey leg. [RWG]. ST. LUCIA, Dauphin Quarter: 2 ♂ 1 ♀, 1.5 mi W of Marquis (13°59' N, 60°55' W, 31 vii 1963, O.S. Flint leg. [USNM]; Anse La Raye Quarter: 1 ♂ 1 ♀ (in tandem), Millet Reservoir, SE of Roseau (13°54'5'' N, 60°59'17'' W, 90 m), 20 v 2009, F.C. Sibley leg. [FSCA]; 3 ♂, same data but [RWG]; Micoud Quarter: 1 m #, 5 mi W of Micoud, Des Cartier Nature Trail (13°50'14'' N, 60°58'34'' W, 347 m), 21 v 2009, A.C. Cline leg. [RWG]; Soufriere Quarter: 5 ♂ 2 ♀, Gros Piton trailhead, L'Ivrogne River (13°48'29'' N, 61°3'33'' W, 210 m), 14 v 2009, F.C. Sibley leg. [RWG]; 1 ♂ 1 ♀, same data but [FSCA].

Characterization. Male: Epicranium, thorax and abdomen brownish black with metallic green to copper reflections; pale colors orange to yellow (Fig. 1). Pronotum anterior lobe entirely pale, middle lobe dark, and posterior lobe dark with lateral corners pale. Mesepisternum entirely dark, lacking pale middorsal and antehumeral stripes; remainder of pterothorax pale. Legs yellow, with extensor surface and distal end of femur brownish, and one to three diffuse brownish rings on tibia; tibial spurs shorter than twice intervening spaces. Genital ligula lacking lateral lobes and with distal margin slightly concave, with laterodistal corners projected ventrally (Fig. 71). Cercus shorter than S10 length, about half as long as paraproct, about as long as wide, with a depression on external surface, dorsal margin convex and ventral margin slightly concave in lateral view (Fig. 97a), with a pointed ventrobasal tooth and two dorsal teeth, an apical one on distal margin and a subapical one on medial surface, visible in dorsal and mediodorsal views (Figs. 97b, c). Paraproct longer than S10 length, approximately cylindrical (Fig. 97). TL 36–41; Hw 17.5–19.

Female: As male but pronotum anterior lobe with anterior margin dark, middle lobe pale, and posterior lobe pale with only posterior margin dark; pale lateral area of S9 extended dorsally medially to about 2/3 of segment height (Fig. 25). Middle lobe of pronotum lacking pronounced lateral depressions; posterior lobe entire, smoothly convex and directed dorsally. Mesostigmal plate approximately triangular with medial margin upright and with a central concavity; mesanepisterum forming two adjacent cylindrical tubercles lying parallel to each other between posteromedial sides of mesostigmal plates (Fig. 47).

TL 36–39; Hw 20.2–21.

Diagnosis. Protoneura ailsa and P. romanae are the only two species with dark color on pterothorax limited to mesepisternum (Figs. 1; 16; 25; 40); in all other species there are some dark areas or stripes on other sclerites of pterothorax (Figs. 2–15; 17–24; 26–39; 41–46). They also share a similar morphology of genital ligula (Figs. 71; 86), male appendages (Figs. 97; 112), and female mesostigmal plates. Male of P. ailsa differs by paraproct about twice as long as cercus (Fig. 97a; clearly shorter than twice length of cercus in P. romanae, Fig. 112a), and cercus apical tooth as long as subapical tooth (Fig. 97c; much longer than subapical tooth located at about midlength of cercus and not distally in P. romanae, Fig. 112c). Female differs by dorsum of middle lobe of pronotum pale (Fig. 25; dark in P. romanae, Fig. 40).

Habitat and biology. Protoneura ailsa was first discovered on a narrow stream in St. Lucia, with alternating areas of riffles and pools, bottom of gravel and sand and some emergent vegetation (Donnelly 1961). The species occurs on small vegetated streams of sandy to rocky bottoms at 45–600 m elevation in Dominica (Donnelly 1970; Meurgey 2008) and commonly between sea level and 400 m a.s.l. in Martinique (Meurgey 2005), from mountain streams to small rivers in sugar cane plantations, but is absent from mangroves and flooded forests (Meurgey et al. 2008). Donnelly (1970) and Meurgey (2008) described its last larval stadium. According to Meurgey (2008), adults of this moist montane or transition forest species hang vertically on small branches or fly in shaded and heavily vegetated areas along the banks of streams and small rivers, or in nearby forested areas. They feed on small insects caught at slow areas of basins and pools. Mating takes place in the vegetation along the banks, and tandem pairs fly to a suitable oviposition site, where females lay eggs (usually still in tandem, rarely alone) in leaves, stream debris, mosses or stems of aquatic plants or roots in slow or standing waters of pools, basins, ditches or dams. Larvae emerge clinging vertically on shaded areas near the water surface (Meurgey 2008).

Distribution. Dominica, Martinique, and Saint Lucia in the Lesser Antilles (Fig. 120).