Iranothyas marismortui ( Gerecke, 1999 )

Iranothyas marismortui ( Gerecke, 1999)

Material examined.

Burdur • TR 4-2024 helocrenic spring near Burdur Lake , 37.733643°N, 30.112862°E, 23 Apr. 2024, leg. Pešić, Zawal, Gülle & Gülle 3 ♀ (sequenced) GoogleMaps .

Remarks.

The genus Iranothyas includes three species, Iranothyas circularis ( Schwoerbel & Sepasgozarian, 1976) , known from a single female from the type locality in western Iran ( Schwoerbel and Sepasgozarian 1976), Iranothyas alhajarica Pešić, Gerecke & Smit, 2009 , a species originally described from Oman ( Pešić et al. 2009), and I. marismortui ( Gerecke, 1999) , a species so far known only from Israel ( Gerecke 1999).

In regard to the shape of the frontal shield (in agreement with Iranothyas circularis , nearly circular, outline equally rounded, without a posteromedial extension as in I. alhajarica ) and position of Ac- 2 (in agreement with I. alhajarica , halfway between Ac- 1 and Ac- 3, not close to Ac- 3 as in I. circularis ) the examined specimens from a helocrenic spring located on the west coast of the Burdur Lake matches the description of I. marismortui ( Gerecke, 1999) . Genetic data indicate that these specimens form a unique BIN (BOLD: AGG 3782).

Gülle et al. (2017) reported the presence of Iranothyas alhajarica Pešić, Gerecke & Smit, 2009 from the same spring located on the west coast of the Burdur Lake (Fig. 6 C View Figure 6 ) where we found an Iranothyas population of here assigned to I. marismortui . Therefore, we assume that the record of I. alhajarica in Gülle et al. (2017) refers to I. marismortui , indicating that I. alhajarica should be excluded for Turkish fauna. Gülle et al. (2017) mentioned that the larvae of the Iranothyas population on the aforementioned locality were found as parasites on the hydrophilic beetle Laccobius gracilis Motschulsky, 1855 .

Distribution.

Israel, Türkiye.