Species of Trichoptera in the collection of the Institute of Neotropical Biodiversity (IBN-CONICET-UNT), Tucumán, Argentina.

Study Extent

The majority of the records of this work corresponds to the biogeographic province known as Yungas Forest or Bosque Tucumano–Boliviano (Cabrera & Willink, 1973; Morrone, 2001). The Yungas Forest has ecologically important altitudinal variation, ranging from 400 to 3000 msnm It is part of a larger formation (mountain rain forest) occupying a N-S belt that can be recognized from the Andes of Venezuela to the northwestern mountains in Argentina. Yungas forest is a subtropical mountain forest extending along discontinuous mountain ranges from southern Bolivia to Catamarca province in northwestern Argentina. The climate is warm and humid, with annual temperatures ranging from 14ºC to 26ºC and rainfall from 1000 mm to 2500 mm (Hueck, 1978), presenting a dry season during Winter and Spring. Yungas forest in northwestern Argentina together with the Paranaense forest in northeastern Argentina contain 50% of the total species richness of the country (Brown et al., 2001). Samples were taken from northwestern Argentina. Salta, Jujuy, and Tucumán geographical provinces have the main pool of Trichoptera data in IBN collection.

Sampling

Adults of some diurnal Trichoptera were collected with aerial nets during the day from exposed rocks in the river. Nocturne adults were collected using a mercury vapor light trap with an electric generator from late afternoon to early night. All material was collected and preserved in 96% ethyl alcohol. The abdominal segments of adult males were dissected and cleared in 10% NaOH at about 25°C, during 8 to 12 hours. After that, each abdomen was neutralized with lactic acid, the soft parts were removed, and then the cuticle was washed with water. The cleared abdomens were preserved in 96% alcohol with the remaining parts of each individual. Glycerin was used as the mounting media to secure the different views of the genital segments and to recover the abdomen (Rueda Martín et al., 2021). The structures were observed under an optical microscope Olympus BX 51 equipped with a camera lucida (40X). The immature stages were collected from rivers in northwestern Argentina, because of their wide diversity of ecological requirements, different methods were used: Surber nets, D nets, manual, and by visual inspection of substrates. Larvae and pupae were fixed and preserved in 75% ethyl alcohol.

Quality Control

All associations were made using the metamorphotype method (Vorhies, 1909; Milne, 1938). from the U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Washington, District of Columbia, USA (NMNH). All species of IBN collection were compared with Type material identified by Dr. O. S. Flint, Jr., from the NMNH.

Method steps

1. .

About 18.700 specimens have been identified in 14 families, 43 genera and 94 species.

1. Calamoceratidae
   rank: family
2. Glossosomatidae
   rank: family
3. Helicopsychidae
   rank: family
4. Hydrobiosidae
   rank: family
5. Hydropsychidae
   rank: family
6. Hydroptilidae
   rank: family
7. Leptoceridae
   rank: family
8. Limnephilidae
   rank: family
9. Odontoceridae
   rank: family
10. Parasericostomatidae
    rank: family
11. Philopotamidae
    rank: family
12. Polycentropodidae
    rank: family
13. Sericostomatidae
    rank: family
14. Xiphocentronidae
    rank: family

Yungas de Argentina.