Abstract
The first species of Labiobaetis Novikova & Kluge from the Fiji Islands is herein described and illustrated based on material collected in 2003. This finding increases our knowledge of the mayfly diversity of the Fiji Islands, which now consists of three genera of Baetidae (Baetis Leach, Papuanatula Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty (subgenus Fijifiliola Kaltenbach), and Labiobaetis Novikova & Kluge) with 12 described species, a yet undescribed genus of Baetidae, and an undescribed species of Caenidae. The new species is not affiliated to one of the defined species groups, but has morphological similarities with species from New Guinea in general. Morphological affinities with Labiobaetis paradisus Gattolliat & Staniczek from Vanuatu are discussed. The genetic barcode (COI) was obtained from one of the larvae. These findings also increase our knowledge of the vast distribution range of the genus Labiobaetis.
References
- Balke, M., Wewalka, G., Alarie, Y. & Ribera, I. (2007) Molecular phylogeny of Pacific Island Colymbetinae: radiation of New Caledonian and Fijian species (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae). Zoologica Scripta, 36, 173–200. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00265.x
- Buluta, S., Finau, H., Brodie, G. & Hodge, S. (2010) A preliminary study into the potential of mayflies (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae and Caenidae) as bio-indicators of stream health in Fiji. The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, 28, 82–84.
- Colley, H. (2009) Fiji, Geology. In: Gillespie, R.G. & Clague, D.A. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of islands. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, pp. 305–309. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520943728-072
- Flowers, R.W. (1990) Ephemeroptera of the Fiji Islands. In: Campbell (Ed.), Mayflies and stoneflies. Kluwer Academic Publications, pp. 125–133. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2397-3_16
- Folmer, O., Black, M., Hoeh, W., Lutz, R. & Vrijenhoek, R. (1994) DNA primers for amplification of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I from divers metazoan invertebrates. Molecular Marine Biology and Biotechnology, 3, 294–299.
- Gattolliat, J.-L. & Staniczek, A. (2011) New larvae of Baetidae (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) from Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde A, Neue Serie, 4, 75–82.
- Kaltenbach, T. (2025) Mayflies of the Fiji Islands (Ephemeroptera). ZooKeys, 1259, 205–276. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1259.168521
- Kaltenbach, T. & Gattolliat, J.-L. (2018) The incredible diversity of Labiobaetis Novikova & Kluge in New Guinea revealed by integrative taxonomy (Ephemeroptera, Baetidae). ZooKeys, 804, 1–136. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.804.28988
- Kaltenbach, T. & Gattolliat, J.-L. (2019) The tremendous diversity of Labiobaetis Novikova & Kluge in Indonesia (Ephemeroptera, Baetidae). ZooKeys, 895, 1–117. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.895.38576
- Kaltenbach, T., Gattolliat, J.-L., Boonsoong, B. & Suttinun, C. (2025) New species of Labiobaetis Novikova & Kluge from Thailand (Ephemeroptera, Baetidae). ZooKeys, 1258, 213–276. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1258.166681
- Kimura, M. (1980) A simple method for estimating evolutionary rates of base substitutions through comparative studies of nucleotide sequences. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 16, 111–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01731581
- Kluge, N.J. (2004) The phylogenetic system of Ephemeroptera. Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 1–442. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0872-3
- Kluge, N.J. & Novikova, E.A. (2014) Systematics of Indobaetis Müller-Liebenau & Morihara 1982, and related implications for some other Baetidae (Ephemeroptera). Zootaxa, 3835, 209–236. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3835.2.3
- Lugo-Ortiz, C.R., McCafferty, W.P. & Waltz, R.D. (1999) Definition and reorganization of the genus Pseudocloeon (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) with new species descriptions and combinations. Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 125, 1–37.
- McCafferty, W.P. & Waltz, R.D. (1995) Labiobaetis (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae): new status, new North American species, and related new genus. Entomological News, 106, 19–28.
- Müller-Liebenau, I. (1984) New genera and species of the family Baetidae from West-Malaysia (River Gombak) (Insecta: Ephemeroptera). Spixiana, 7, 253–284.
- Müller-Liebenau, I. & Hubbard, M.D. (1985) Baetidae from Sri Lanka with some general remarks on the Baetidae of the Oriental Region (Insecta: Ephemeroptera). Florida Entomologist, 68, 537–561. https://doi.org/10.2307/3494855
- Novikova, E.A. & Kluge, N.J. (1987) Systematics of the genus Baetis (Ephemeroptera, Baetidae), with descriptions of new species from Middle Asia. Vestnik Zoologii, 1987 (4), 8–19. [In Russian]
- Ryan, P. (2000) Fiji’s Natural Heritage. Exisle Publishing, Chatswood, Australia, 288 pp.
- Ryan, P. (2009) Fiji, Biology. In: Gillespie, R.G. & Clague, D.A. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of islands. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, pp. 298–305.
- Sanger, F., Nicklen, S. & Coulson, A.R. (1977) DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A., 74, 5463–5467. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463
- Shi, W. & Tong, X. (2014) The genus Labiobaetis (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) in China, with description of a new species. Zootaxa, 3815, 397–408. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3815.3.5
- Shorthouse, D.P. (2010) SimpleMappr, an online tool to produce publication-quality point maps. Available from: https://www.simplemappr.net (accessed 3 March 2026)
- Tamura, K., Stecher, G. & Kumar, S. (2021) MEGA 11: Molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 11. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38 (7), 3022–3027. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab120
- Vuataz, L., Sartori, M., Wagner, A. & Monaghan, M.T. (2011) Toward a DNA taxonomy of Alpine Rhithrogena (Ephemeroptera: Heptagenidae) using a mixed Yule-Coalescent Analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. PLoS ONE, 6, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0019728