Abstract
The genus Electrogena Zurwerra & Tomka, 1985 is a diverse mayfly group in the Western Palaearctic with a partially unclear taxonomy, even in well-examined areas such as Central Europe. Recently, one of the species belonging to this genus, Electrogenaujhelyii (Sowa, 1981), was identified as a complex of genetically and geographically separated species. Two other species, Electrogenasamalorum (Landa, 1982) and Electrogenarivuscellana Sartori & Landolt, 1991 were formerly stated as junior synonyms of the earlier species. The fact that the synonymy of E.samalorum and E.ujhelyii was stated without comparison of any larval or adult material and both species reportedly have different altitude preferences makes the taxonomical position of E.samalorum (and possibly E.rivuscellana) questionable. Among others, a comparison of type series is one of the first methods that should be used to clarify the taxonomical position of closely related taxa.The present study aims to comparatively examine the type material and topotypes of E.ujhelyii and its presumed junior synonym E.samalorum for the first time in detail. Additionally, some notes on the status of the geographically extralimital E.rivuscellana are discussed briefly. We noted a significant similarity of all studied material from both the larval and imaginal stages, and suggest considering both junior synonyms (E.samalorum and E.rivuscellana) as species inquirendae.
Highlights
Despite a long history of research on European mayfly taxonomy and ecology, there are still several groups of taxa with unresolved and unclear taxonomy
We noted a remarkable similarity of all studied material from both larval and imaginal stages of E. ujhelyii and E. samalorum
Due to the considerable damage of studied material and some noted differences between E. ujhelyii and E. samalorum type material, we cannot presently confirm their synonymy which was previously established without comparison of any material
Summary
Despite a long history of research on European mayfly taxonomy and ecology, there are still several groups of taxa with unresolved and unclear taxonomy. One of those groups is the genus Electrogena Zurwerra & Tomka, 1985. The first described species of this genus was Electrogena lateralis (Curtis, 1834), and the last described European species of this genus far is Electrogena brulini Wagner, 2017. The latter species was delimited from the closely related species Electrogena gridellii (Grandi, 1953) using mitochondrial gene sequence analyses. In Central Europe, we identified a similar situation with two species recently considered to be synonyms, Electrogena ujhelyii (Sowa, 1981) and Electrogena samalorum (Landa, 1982) as a junior synonym of the former species (Zurwerra and Tomka 1986)
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