New Discovery: Three Undescribed Steiroxys species in One Locality in NE Oregon

On the afternoon of September 5th, I found what appears to be three undescribed Steiroxys species living at Penland Lake, Morrow County, Oregon. Twelve individuals were captured and photographed, and there was a variety of differing terminalia.

Species-z
We documented 8 females that have subgenital plates consistent with that of species-z, an undescribed species with 2 iNat reports in Alberta and four genetic samples in GenBank (confirmed by one of iNat reports being a sample). This is the same species that is erroneously identified as trilineata on sources like SINA and GenBank. This species appears to be a parthenogenetic species, which would explain why we didn't capture a male. Here's links to the 8 reports.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/181997856
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/181997870
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/181997921
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/181998025
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182002805
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182002958
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182003130
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182003371

Species-l2
I captured 3 (1 m, 2 f) individuals of a completely new species that I'm not calling species-l2. Male cerci are large, tubular and sharply hooked. The inner tooth is very close to the base, and not always clearly visible. Visully the cerci look most like species-k2 of Long Creek and Philips Lake, OR, but the outer tooth of k2 curves under the inner tooth, making the hook-like appendage appears mono-toothed. Female subgenital plate drastically different from any species I've encountered (approx. 13 undescribed species) with strong apical hooks but a distinctly hourglass-shaped plate. I'm hoping that I can convince the folks I'm working with to name this species clepsydra because of that unique feature.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182002737
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182003027
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182003263

Species-g
Lastly, I found one more location species-g occurs. This is a wide-ranging species, and I have collected specimens in Morrow, Umatilla, Wallowa, Union, and Grant counties, though it almost certainly occurs in Baker County, and southeastern Washington.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182003180

Posted on September 9, 2023 03:45 AM by birdwhisperer