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ABSTRACT: The male, female, and larva of Micrasema florida, n. sp. (Trichoptera: Brachycentridae), is described from Coastal Plain streams of Alabama and the western Florida panhandle. The species belongs in the Micrasema rusticum Group and closely resembles Micrasema ozarkana Ross and Unzicker, 1965. The male lacks thick, sclerotized straps on abdominal segment IX. The female has anterior emarginations on the abdominal terga. The larva has a pale yellow head with light brown muscle scars and builds a case that is abruptly narrowed posteriorly.
KEY WORDS: caddisfly, Florida, Alabama, shredder-herbivore, Micrasema florida, Micrasema ozarkana
The genus Micrasema is one of 7 extant genera in the caddisfly family Brachycentridae and contains 78 available species and prospecies in North America, Europe, and Asia (Morse 2012). Of these, 17 species and 4 prospecies occur in North America (Morse 2012). Larvae of the genus occur in a variety of habitats and reportedly feed mainly as shredders-herbivores on mosses (Wiggins, 1996; Merritt et al., 2008).
The North American species of genus Micrasema were revised by Chapin (1978), with descriptions or redescriptions of males, females, and larvae of all Nearctic species known at that time. The following new species was recognized in Chapin's study in material from the Florida Panhandle and adjoining counties of Alabama and was described under the name "Micrasema n. sp. 1." Its name is not available, however, because the work was not published in the meaning of the version of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature that was applicable at that time (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1964). The purpose of this work is to publish the species description, along with new distributional data, in such a way as to make the species name available for the anticipated publication of a key for southeastern North American species of mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies, including a key to southeastern species of Micrasema larvae, based on Chapin's (1978) work.
METHODS
The specimens examined in this research were donated by Dr. P. H. Carlson (formerly at Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina) or loaned by Drs. W. L. and J. G. Peters, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida, and Dr. D. A. Etnier, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee. Male and female genitalia were prepared for examination by their dissection from the specimen and...