A new species of Chimarra Stephens 1829 (Trichoptera: Philopotamidae) and new caddisfly records from Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil

Abstract

Trichoptera is the largest order of exclusively aquatic insects, comprising more than 16,000 described species with cosmopolitan distribution. There are about 800 species recorded from Brazil so far, mostly from the North, Southeast, and South regions. In Northeastern Brazil, the state of Rio Grande do Norte has only one Trichoptera species recorded so far (Oecetis excisa). Here, Chimarra (Chimarra) potiguar n. sp. is described and illustrated. The new species can be easily distinguished from its congeners by the following features: Segment X has its mesal lobe elongate, sub-rectangular; lateral lobes long and rounded apically, dorsal margin with subapical invagination; the apex of each inferior appendage has a pronounced apicodorsal acute projection, and the phallotremal sclerite complex is curved, with small spines dorsally. Chimarra (C.) potiguar is morphologically similar to Chimarra (Chimarra) bidens, but the new species differs from it by the length and shape of the mesal lobe and lateral lobes of segment X, and by general shape of the basal regions of inferior appendages. Five additional caddisfly species are recorded for the first time from Rio Grande do Norte state: three in Hydropsychidae (Leptonema sparsum, Macrostemum hyalinum, and Smicridea (Smicridea) palifera) and two in Polycentropodidae (Cyrnellus fraternus and Cernotina bibrachiata).

Caddisflies (Trichoptera) checklist and a new species of Helicopsyche von Siebold, 1856, from the Brejo de Altitude de Triunfo, a relict rainforest within the Caatinga domain, Northeast Brazil

“…Among the 43 Brejos de Altitude (Tabarelli and Santos 2004), except for this paper, there are only four caddisfly species recorded from these ''islands of humid tropical forests'' in the Caatinga domain. Three of them from Brejo de Altitude de Bonito, Pernambuco state (Macrostemum hyalinum, Oxyethira tica, and Atopsyche antisuya) (França et al 2013;Souza and Santos 2017;Gomes and Calor 2019), and one from Brejo de Altitude de Portalegre, Rio Grande do Norte state (Chimarra potiguar) (Queiroz et al 2020). Despite the increase in the number of species with this study, the number of collection sites remains insufficient, consequently taxonomic inventories and description of new species are important to fill gaps in taxonomic and biogeographic knowledge at the Brejos de Altitude.…”

“…Chimarra potiguar Queiroz, Dias & Calor, 2020: 101 [type locality: Brazil, Rio Remarks. The occurrence of this species was recorded only for the Brejo de Altitude de Portalegre, Rio Grande do Norte state (altitude of 642 m) (Queiroz et al 2020). The record in Brejo de Altitude de Triunfo (altitude range 580-940 m) is also the first record for Pernambuco state.…”

“…The map with collection sites was created using QGIS 3.4.15 and finalized in Corel Draw X5. The species distribution data were obtained from Holzenthal and Calor (2017) for the Neotropical region and Queiroz et al (2020) and Santos et al (2022) for Brazil. New records for Pernambuco state are indicated in the species distribution.…”