Vietnamellidae (Insecta, Ephemeroptera) of Thailand

Abstract

The genus Vietnamella Tshernova, 1972 is investigated in detail for the first time in Thailand. As a consequence, four species are recognized, namely Vietnamella maculosasp. nov., Vietnamella thani Tshernova, 1972, Vietnamella sp. B and Vietnamella sp. C. Herein, larvae and eggs of V. maculosasp. nov. are described and reported from Chiang Rai Province. The larva of Vietnamella sp. B from Tak Province is also described, but not named due to insufficient material, and the imaginal stages and eggs of V. thani Tshernova, 1972 are described and presented for the first time. Our morphological evidence is supported with COI data. The phylogeny showed that four different lineages of the genus Vietnamella occur in Thailand, one of them, viz., Vietnamella sp. C, only known from a couple of COI sequences retrieved from the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). Diagnoses for all known Oriental species are also presented.

A New Species of Vietnamella Tshernova 1972 (Ephemeroptera: Vietnamellidae) from Thailand

“…The COI amplification was performed using LCO1490 and HCO2198 [ 30 ]. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) conditions and procedure were performed as described previously [ 26 ]. Purification and sequencing were conducted by Macrogen, Inc. (Seoul, South Korea).…”

“…Seven nominal species have previously been described, but three are considered to be junior synonyms. All of the named species are known from Vietnam, China, and Thailand [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. The species richness of the genus is greater, but lack of sufficient material and stage associations have hampered rapid progress in formally naming and describing this diversity.…”

“…B & Vietnamella sp. C from Thailand [ 26 ]. Other material has been reported at the genus level from Laos, without provisional species designations [ 28 ].…”

“…From among the three provisional species, Vietnamella sp. C was only known from a few mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences that had been retrieved by Auychinda et al [ 26 ] from the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). No previous attempt had been made to place the larval specimens from which the DNA had been obtained to a species, due to the poor state of systematics of the group (see, e.g., [ 25 , 29 ]).…”

“…No previous attempt had been made to place the larval specimens from which the DNA had been obtained to a species, due to the poor state of systematics of the group (see, e.g., [ 25 , 29 ]). In light of the findings of Auychinda et al [ 26 ], these specimens were investigated again, and new material was discovered, including the male subimago, female subimago, and egg stages. The present study aims to name and describe formally Vietnamella sp.…”