Authors: Nadine Dupérré, Don Buckle & Pierre Paquin

While doing a ID contract, Don Buckle identified a new species of Oreonetides from the Appalachians collected by J. Lewis. Additional collections finally yielded a male which confirmed the placement of this new troglophile in the genus. In our 2004 cave trip, we collected the species in several additional caves and gathered 5 males. A detailed morphological analysis based on female genitalia suggest one species, despite a bit of variation.The male palp show morphological stability, except in one case, where variation may suggest a second species. We decided to gather molecular data from specimens that seem conspecific to compare with the specimens collected in the location where the male that showed morphological variation was collected. DNA was successfully amplified last week, and results should be back in a few days. This will be an interesting way to test if that minor morphological variation represent - or not - a distinct species.