Plectrocnemia scruposa MacLachlan 1880

Plectrocnemia scruposa / laetabilis TAXO-2022. The only morphological characteristic differentiating P. laetabilis McLachlan, 1880 from P. scruposa McLachlan, 1880 larvae is the relative length of two specific setae groups on the last abdominal tergum. According to Vieira-Lanero et al. (2003), the length of the outer setae of P. laetabilis is approximately three times the length of the inner seta, while nearly equal for P. scruposa according to Waringer and Graf (2020). In our study, molecular analysis showed that of the five larvae that were morphologically identified as P. scruposa (similar length of both outer and inner setae) four matched with P. scruposa but one matched with P. laetabilis. Another larva, genetically and morphologically identified as P. laetabilis (higher length of outer setae compared to inner setae) showed only a 1.5 to 2 - fold difference in setae length, rather than the expected threefold difference described by Vieira-Lanero et al. (2003). These results indicate that this criterion based on the relative length of two specific setae, in this geographic area, may not be fully reliable for distinguishing between P. laetabilis and P. scruposa. Thus, adults and barcoded larvae were recorded at species level (P. scruposa or P. laetabilis). The remaining larvae were classified as P. scruposa / laetabilis.