Lineage sorting by parameres in Limnephilinae subfamily (Trichoptera): with description of a new tribe, new genera and new species

Abstract

The discovery of the new Agaphylax genus with unique paramere organisation has initiated our lineage sorting of tribes by parameres in the Limnephilinae subfamily applying the principles and procedures of fine phenomics in order to establish transformation series of the polarized plesiomorphy-apomorphy character states for each limnephiline genera. According to the extraordinary high diversity the paramere that is the stimulatory and titillating structure of the phallic organ is a speciation supertrait. This adaptive trait is directly involved in the processes of reproductive isolation and diverging as subtle initial split of lineages producing the incipient sibling species in the recent past of contemporary speciation processes. Contrary, the drastic divergence of the Agaphylax plated paramere is much older, similarly to the many-spined parameres of the Hesperophylacini tribe. It has been initiated by drastic combined and synchronous external and internal stochastic effects, processed in ancestral sexual integrative adaptation as well as organised and fixed in older and deeper coalescence events and appears as a character with tribe ranking potential. To open a wider perspective, a systemic relational analysis is required in the future including other adaptive or neutral character transformation series, due to the burden of taxonomic incongruences grounded by chimerism in stochastic genetic reticulation. Traits of species are mixed products coming from various sources. Only character combinations can and ought to be analysed in terms how to classify taxa. We have polarized eight genitalic characters additional to parameres for a future analysis of the potential of character combinations. Limnephilinae subfamily is composed of Limnephilini, Chilostigmatini, Chaetopterygini, Stenophylacini and Hesperophylacini tribes and here we established the new Agaphylacini tribe. Based on parameres we have delineated taxa in lineage sorting and described two new genera: Fogophylax gen. nov., Simaphylax gen. nov. and fourteen new species: Anabolia alsoja, A. hepehupa, Asynarchus kimaros, Limnephilus kerekes, L. maghrebensis, L. oblos, Homophylax beges, H. coros, Chaetopteroides plackovicensis, C. rilaensis, Allogamus ketpar, Platyphylax beshkovi, Pycnopsyche letova and P. telea spp. nov. The by-product of this survey is a world atlas of paramere drawings for the entire Limnephilinae subfamily.

Keywords

• paramere organisation
• paramere polarization
• paramere atlas
• lineage sorting.