Abstract
The Holarctic genus Oemopteryx is represented in the Nearctic region by three species groups, including the far western O. vanduzeea group. In this paper, we redescribe and illustrate O. vanduzeea (Claassen, 1937) and describe O. leei sp. n. from California and Oregon, USA. The new species is distinguished in the male from O. vanduzeea by the epiproct complex having a tongue-shaped prong that is hood-like at the apex, by the sleeve containing a filament that bears a terminal hook, and by a ventral, elongate, finger-like process that inserts into the apex of the prong. The female of O. leei sp. n. exhibits a large, wide subgenital plate that terminates in a narrow notched apex, whereas the subgenital plate is smaller and trapezoidal, with a flat, truncate margin in O. vanduzeea.
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Bill P. Stark, Mississippi College for helping us with this study. Richard Hoebeke, Assistant Curator, Cornell University is thanked for sending the holotype of O. vanduzeea. The following colleagues loaned specimens from their respective institutions: Vince Lee, California Academy of Sciences; Don Bright Canadian National Collection; Glen Wiggins, Royal Ontario Museum; Chris Marshall and Andy Moldenke, Oregon State University; and Oliver Flint, Smithsonian Institution. Peter Zwick, Schlitz, Germany is thanked for providing assistance with the interpretation of the complex structures of the male terminalia. Richard Bottorff, Wayne Fields, Jon Lee, John Sandberg, and Bill Shepard provided additional material for study. Michael Standing, Brigham Young University, Electron Microscope Laboratory, aided with the SEM micrographs. Randy Baker, graphic artist, Monte L. Bean Museum, constructed the figures plates. Finally, Jean Stanger Leavitt, during her revision of the genus Taenionema, discovered many of the specimens of O. vanduzeea that are listed in this study.