Corresponding author: Carmelo Andújar (
Academic editor: Terry Erwin
A new species of the genus
The genus
The species of the genus seem to be associated with deep soil or the soil crevices near rivers or temporary flooded areas (
During an entomological expedition to North Morocco we found the single specimen of a new species of
The unique specimen was killed and stored in absolute ethanol in the field, and total DNA was extracted using the QIAGEN Dneasy tissue kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany), without destroying the external cuticle. The extracted specimen was mounted in DMHF (Dimethyl Hydantoin-Formaldehyde) on a transparent acetate label. For the morphological study and photographs we used a Zeiss Stemi 2000C Trinocular Zoom Stereomicroscope with Spot Insight Firewire digital camera and software.
Total genomic DNA for the single specimen of
Primers used in the study. F, forward; R, reverse. Length refers to the aligned matrix.
Type DNA | Gene | Length | Primer | S | Primer sequence (5'- 3') | Described in: |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mitochondrial protein coding | cox1 | 755 | Jerry (M202) | F | CAACATTTATTT-TGATTTTTTGG | ( |
Pat (M70) | R | TCCA(A)TGCACTA-ATCTGCCATATTA | ( |
|||
Mitochondrial ribosomal | rrnL | 744 | 16SaR (M14) | F | CGCCTGTTTA-WCAAAAACAT | ( |
16s-ND1a (M223) | R | GGTCCCTTACGAA-TTTGAATATATCCT | ( |
|||
Nuclear ribosomal | LSU | 1240 | LS58F (D1) | F | GGGAGGAAA-AGAAACTAAC | ( |
LS998R (D3) | R | GCATAGTTC-ACCATCTTTC | ( |
|||
Nuclear ribosomal | SSU | 625 | 5'b5.0 | F | GACAACCTGGTT-GATCCTGCCAGT | ( |
R | TAACCGCAA-CAACTTTAAT | ( |
Species, locality of collection, voucher reference and accession numbers for each sequence.
Especie | Locality | Voucher | cox1 | rrnL | LSU | SSU |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Alicante, Spain | 1583BG | JF778779 | JF778796 | JF778812 | JF778829 |
|
Albacete, Spain | 1581BG | JF778780 | JF778797 | JF778813 | JF778830 |
|
Albacete, Spain | 1590BG | JF778781 | JF778798 | JF778814 | JF778831 |
|
Lugo, Spain | 1553BG | JF778782 | JF778799 | JF778815 | JF778832 |
|
Susuz, Turkey | 1600BG | JF778783 | JF778800 | JF778816 | JF778833 |
|
Albacete, Spain | 1578BG | JF778784 | N/A | JF778817 | JF778834 |
|
Cádiz, Spain | 36_EN | JF778785 | JF778801 | JF778818 | JF778835 |
|
Alicante, Spain | 1582BG | JF778786 | JF778802 | JF778819 | JF778836 |
|
Pays Zaer Zaine, Morocco | 64_EN | JF778787 | JF778803 | JF778820 | JF778837 |
|
Pays Zaer Zaine, Morocco | 62_EN | N/A | JF778804 | JF778821 | JF778838 |
|
Pays Zaer Zaine, Morocco | 65_EN | JF778788 | N/A | JF778822 | JF778839 |
|
Agadir, Morocco | MNHN-AF113 | GQ293688 | FR729593 | GQ293625 | GQ293503 |
|
Huesca, Spain | MNHN-AF96 | FR733908 | GQ293743 | GQ293619 | GQ293534 |
|
Sardinia, Italy | 56_EN | JF778789 | JF778805 | JF778823 | JF778840 |
Pays Zaer Zaine, Morocco | 63_EN | JF778790 | JF778806 | JF778824 | JF778841 | |
|
Albacete, Spain | 1579BG | JF778791 | JF778807 | JF778825 | JF778842 |
|
Castellón, Spain | MNCN-6409 | JF778792 | JF778808 | AM051084 | DQ130051 |
|
Ciudad Real, Spain | 98_EN | N/A | JF778809 | N/A | N/A |
|
Murcia, Spain | 97_EN | JF778793 | N/A | JF778826 | JF778843 |
|
Castellón, Spain | 87_EN | JF778794 | JF778810 | JF778827 | JF778844 |
|
Tanger, Morocco | 31_EN | JF778795 | JF778811 | JF778828 | JF778845 |
Bayesian phylogenetic analyses (BA) were performed with MrBayes v.3.1. (
Souk-Khemis-des-Anjra, Tetuan, Morocco (
Holotype: 1♂, “MOROCCO 28-III-2008 / Souk-Khemis-des-Anjra, Tetuan / 123m N35°43'18" W5°31'23" / Andújar, Hernando, Ribera & Aguilera leg."; voucher number label “31_EN"; plus red holotype label. Type specimen mounted in DMHF in a transparent acetate label, genitalia dissected and mounted in DMHF in a separate label pinned with the specimen. Deposited in the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (MCNB), DNA aliquots deposited in the IBE (CSIC) and Univ. Murcia (ZAFUMU col.).
Total Length 2.7 mm (from apex of mandible to apex of elytra). Body depressed, flattened, light brown (
Line drawing ofhabitus of
Length of holotype: 2.7 mm. Body depressed, flattened and depigmented, light brown. Surface microreticulate, with mesh pattern regular polygonal (observed on the dried specimen) and scattered short setae.
Photographic images of
Photographic image of median lobe of
The single known specimen of
Habitat of
The specific epithet is a Latinized eponym, genitive case, based on the name of our late friend Pedro Aguilera, who collected the specimen with us during his last trip to Morocco.
Key to adults of the West Mediterranean and Macaronesian
1 | Eyeless | 2 |
– | With eyes | 3 |
2 | Third antennal segment only slightly longer than 2nd and slightly shorter than 4th, anterior margin of pronotum trapezoidal, presence of a tooth on metafemora. Length 2.7mm. North Morocco | |
– | Third antennal segment more than twice longer than 2nd and similar to 4th. Anterior margin of pronotum bisinuate, without tooth on metafemora. Length 4.9–5.1mm. Canary Islands | |
3 | Third antennal segment not twice as long as 2nd and distinctly shorter than 4th, legs short and robust, metaibiae curved, strongly so in male. North Africa, Middle East, Iberian Peninsula | |
– | Third antennal segment at least twice as long as second and similar to 4th, metatibiae straight | 4 |
4 | Third antennal segment three times longer than 2nd. Length 7 mm. Algeria, Morocco | |
– | Third antennal segment at most twice longer than 2nd. Length 2.8–6mm. | 5 |
5 | Eyes convex, as long as temporae, pronotum as long as wide. Length 5–5.5mm. Morocco, Tunisia | |
– | Eyes flattened | 6 |
6 | Head darker than pronotum and elytra | 7 |
– | Head concolorous with pronotum and elytra, body entirely yellowish brown | 8 |
7 | Eyes well developed, distance between hind margin of head and hind margin of eyes at most 2 times longer than diameter of eyes. Apical part of aedeagus short and robust, with slightly curved ventral margin. Length 4.5–6mm. Central and southern Europe, Turkmenistan | |
– | Eyes reduced, distance between hind margin of head and hind margin of eyes at least 2.5 times longer than diameter of eyes. Apical part of aedeagus long and narrow. Morocco | |
8 | Apical part of aedeagus straight, long and narrow. Length 4–5mm. Spain | |
– | Apical part of aedeagus sinuate, curved, robust and hooked. Length 3.8–5.4mm. North Africa, Italy, Spain |
The
Phylogenetic tree obtained with MrBayes for the combined dataset (
We recovered a monophyletic
The genus
The subgenus
This research was supported in part by the project CGL2007-61665 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the project S/REF.08724/PI/08 of the Fundacion Seneca. CA had a FPU predoctoral grant of the same Ministry. Thanks are due to José Serrano and José Luis Lencina for specimens of