The Trichoptera of Panama XXI. Review of the genus Tizatetrichia Harris, Flint, and Holzenthal, 2002 (Trichoptera: Hydroptilidae), including two new species, one first country record, and female description of T. panamensis Harris and Armitage, 2019

Abstract

The genus Tizatetrichia Harris, Flint, and Holzenthal, 2002 (Trichoptera: Hydroptilidae) was described based on a single male of T. costatricensis Harris, Flint, and Holzenthal, 2002 collected from Guanacaste Province in northwestern Costa Rica. Since then, the second species (T. panamensis Harris and Armitage, 2019) was discovered in a small Caribbean drainage near Chiriquí Grande, Panama. No female of this genus had been described. Recent collections carried out by the Aquatic Invertebrate Research Group (AIRG) at the Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí (UNACHI) now expand our knowledge of this genus. Herein, we describe a female of Tizatetrichia for the first time, comparing it with that of the related genus Bredinia Flint, 1968. In addition, we describe two new species from central and western Panama (T. escabrosa sp. n. and T. paloseco sp. n.), report one first country record (T. costaricensis), provide keys to the identification of Stactobiinae genera and Tizatetrichia species, and discuss the distribution of the genus in relation to altitude. Panama is now the home to all four species of this Neotropical genus, and its endemic status expanded to Central America. The Republic of Panama has 490 species of caddisflies distributed among 15 families and 56 genera.

Keywords:

• neotropics
• biological diversity
• hydroptilids
• Stactobiinae

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Ministerio de Ambiente (MiAmbiente) of Panama for all collection permits and import/export licenses employed. Additionally, we acknowledge MiAmbiente, which financed the collection of one species in the Santa Fe National Park, through the Sustainable Production System and Biodiversity Conservation Project (PSPSCB), based on funding from the World Bank. We are also grateful to COZEM of the Gorgas Memorial Institute of Health Studies, who led the aquatic macroinvertebrate field component of the PSPSCB project, as well as Tomás Ríos, Edgar Álvarez, and Carlos Nieto, who assisted with the field collections, and Aydeé Cornejo, who served as supervisor. We are also appreciative of Tatiana I. Arefina-Armitage for editing the manuscript. We thank Patricia Kieswetter and John Jones, owners of Finca la Esperanza, for their permission to sample Afluente sin nombre de Río Gariche and Quebrada la Vuelta on their property. We are also grateful to Deborah Eisberg for her support of our research and are indebted to Albert Thurman for his collecting effort, logistical help, and friendship. Special thanks to Leah Keth and Tatiana I. Arefina-Armitage for their artistic skills in generating the illustrations for the new species. Finally, we thank Dr Helena Shaverdo, Chief Editor of Aquatic Insects, and several anonymous reviewers who collectively worked to make this a better manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Support for national park fieldwork came from Panama’s Ministerio de Ambiente (MiAmbiente), funded by a grant from the World Bank. Funding for this project and report was made possible thanks to support to Dr Brian J. Armitage by the Sistema Nacional de Investigación (SNI) of Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENACYT), Panama.