Perlidae (Plecoptera) from the Boracéia Biological Station, Salesópolis, São Paulo: integrating morphological and molecular data and associating adults and nymphs

Abstract

The order Plecoptera comprises more than 3700 described species, allocated in 17 families. In Brazil, there are about 200 species described in two families (Gripopterygidae and Perlidae). The Perlidae family has four genera: Anacroneuria Klapálek, 1909; Enderleina Jewett, 1960; Kempnyia Klapalek, 1914; and Macrogynoplax Enderlein, 1909. In the State of São Paulo, one of the best studied, there are 36 known species of Perlidae and only 11 of them have described nymphs. At the Boracéia Biological Station (EBB), where this project is being developed, the reality is equally worrying, only four of the 17 recorded species have nymphs described. In this context, in this project, specimens of Perlidae (Plecoptera) will be collected in Serra do Mar, more specifically in Estação Biológica de Boracéia, Salesópolis, State of São Paulo, with the following objectives: 1) to morphologically identify the species of Perlidae occurring in the Boracéia Biological Station and subsequently obtain the COI mitochondrial gene sequences for each one of them; 2) evaluate the delimitation of species and the congruence between morphological and molecular data, integrating these data; 3) obtain the adult-nymph association using the obtained sequences; and describe the nymphs of associated species that are not yet described; 4) create a molecular database and propose a morphological identification key in order to facilitate species identification. Adults will be collected through light attraction and nymphs using D-net. All material will be preserved in absolute ethanol and stored in a freezer (-20 oC). The morphological identification of the species will be based on morphological comparison with museum specimens and specific literature. The species will be molecularly characterized based on a fragment of the mitochondrial COI gene. Adults and nymphs will be molecularly associated. Associated nymphs that are not yet known will be described.