Field record documents Hemineura wittmeri in Georgia, extending its known range into the Caucasus

A field collection documented the barklouse species Hemineura wittmeri in Georgia for the first time, establishing the species’ first recorded occurrence in the Caucasus. The find consists of 14 females, including one juvenile, and five males collected on 5 November 2023 in semi-arid shrubland near Gori. The specimens were identified as H. wittmeri and preserved for deposition in the scientific collections of Ilia State University in Tbilisi.

The collection took place on Paliurus spina-christi at coordinates 41.979802° N, 44.078262° E. The authors manually collected the H. wittmeri specimens together with several individuals of Ectopsocopsis cryptomeriae and preserved them in 96% ethanol. The available H. wittmeri material comprises 19 specimens, assigned CaBOL-IDs 1009116–1009134. The record included both females and males and was therefore described as a bisexual population.

Identification and documentation involved microscopy, photography and diagnostic illustration. A preserved female was photographed with a Canon EOS 60D fitted with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens, a Novoflex Castel-L focusing rack and a Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-26EX-RT. The digital images were stacked in Zerene Stacker and prepared in Adobe Photoshop CS6. Diagnostic drawings were produced from microscope photographs with a Wacom CTH-690 Intuos tablet using Krita 2.9.7 and Photoshop CS6. The published figure illustrates the female head, subgenital plate and gonapophyses, together with the male forewing and hindwing and the female habitus; scale bars are 0.2 mm for the head and subgenital plate, 0.1 mm for the gonapophyses, and 1 mm for the wings and habitus.

The report places the Georgian occurrence about 1,500 km northeast of the nearest known records in Israel. H. wittmeri was previously described from a single female collected in Saudi Arabia, with a sexually reproducing population subsequently reported from Israel and a parthenogenetic population from the Canary Islands. The Georgian record extends the documented distribution of the species into the Caucasus, although the evidence presented here comes from a collection at one locality on one date and does not establish its abundance or wider distribution within Georgia.

Subject of Research: First Caucasus field record of the barklouse Hemineura wittmeri based on a Georgian specimen collection

Article Title: The first record of Hemineura wittmeri Badonnel, 1981 ( Psocodea , Psocomorpha , Elipsocidae ) from the Caucasus

Article References: Seropian, A., & Bulbulashvili, N. (2024). The first record of Hemineura wittmeri Badonnel, 1981 (Psocodea, Psocomorpha, Elipsocidae) from the Caucasus. Caucasiana, 3, 1-4. https://doi.org/10.3897/caucasiana.3.e116995

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/caucasiana.3.e116995

Keywords: Hemineura wittmeri, barklice, Georgia, Caucasus, field record, Psocodea, Elipsocidae, distribution range, Gori, insect collection, first, record