A new species of Isoperla (Plecoptera: Perlodidae) from the Qinling Mountains of northwestern China and notes on the Chinese species of the genus
Author
Chen, Zhi-Teng
Author
Song, Liang-Dong
Author
Feng, Wen-Tao
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-08-05
4651
2
379
391
journal article
26085
10.11646/zootaxa.4651.2.11
2043bfdb-76a0-4a4a-bcea-c8d286d2a93b
1175-5326
3363145
459C44D9-55A5-4FD3-8245-8C08E2DC2631
Isoperla qinlinga
Chen
,
sp. nov.
Figs. 2–8
.
Adult habitus
(
Figs. 2
,
6
,
7B
). Body generally reddish to dark brown. Head mostly covered by a brown stigma, anterior and posterolateral areas pale; tentorial callosities and M-line distinct. Triocellate, anterior ocellus slightly smaller than posterior ones; compound eyes small rounded. Antennae slender, generally dark brown, basal segments pale, subequal in length to the body. Maxillary palps slender, four-segmented with a strongly reduced apical segment; labial palps shorter, three-segmented with a strongly reduced apical segment. Pronotum sub-rectangular with angled corners, anterior margin arched; most part of pronotum rugose and dark brown, lateral margins pale. Meso- and metanota reddish-yellow with dark sclerites; meso- and metabasisterna with pale lateral stripes. Macropterous; wings pale yellow, veins brown. Legs generally yellow, apex of femur and base of tibia dark; two tibial spurs present. Abdominal segments generally yellow to pale brown. Cerci slender, length subequal to the abdomen, generally yellow but the three apical segments dark brown.
Male
(
Figs. 2–5
). Body length ca. 11.0 mm; forewings length ca. 12.0 mm, hindwings length ca. 9.0 mm. In the forewing, seven crossveins present between C and Sc; two extra crossveins present beyond Sc; RP with three branches; CuA with five branches; AA1 simple, AA2forked. In the hind wing, six crossveins present between C and Sc; two extra crossveins present beyond Sc; RP with three branches; anal area large and folded with eight anal branches.
Abdominal terga 1–9 with paired, brown median spots. Tergum 10 unmodified, posterior margin subtriangular. Paraprocts slender, hook-shaped and upcurved, apices red and pointed. Vesicle less developed, reduced into a subtriangular patch of short hairs, slighlt exceeding posterior margin of sternum 8. Sternum 9 broadly produced, expanded backwards with a subtriangular apex, inserting into base of the extruded aedeagus. Everted aedeagus oval in shape, spinulose, venral aspect with a Y-shaped lobe, the lobe with thickened arms and stem, the stem extended into dorsum of sternum 9; lateral areas of the Y-shaped lobe covered with unconspicuous scales, posterior of the lobe with a subtriangular patch of scales; dorsal aspect of the aedeagus with a large, rugose, apple-shaped lobe, which is covered with very unconspicuous scales.
Female
(
Fig. 6
). Body length ca. 14.0 mm; forewings length ca. 14.0 mm, hindwings length ca. 12.0 mm. General color pattern similar to males; tibiae dark brown; posteromedial margin of each tergum with obscure brown marks; posterior margin of each sternum dark brown. Tergum 10 similar to males. Subgenital plate broad, slightly produced with rounded posterior margin. Paraprocts strongly sclerotized and long triangular.
Ova
Unknown.
Type material.
Holotype
male,
China
:
Shaanxi Province
,
Xi’an City
,
Qinling Mountains
,
Taiping National Forest
Park
, on handrail near a fast-flowing stream (
Fig. 7A
),
900–1100 m
,
33°59′18″N
,
108°59′52″E
,
28 April 2019
, leg.
Zhi-Teng Chen
&
Liang-Dong Song
(ICJUST)
.
Paratype
:
12 males
and
9 females
, same locality and data as
holotype
;
1 male
and
1 female
,
China
:
Shaanxi Province
,
Xi’an City
,
Qinling Mountains
,
Cuihuashan National Geopark
, a fast-flowing stream (
Fig. 8
),
1000–1200 m
,
33°58′45″N
,
108°59′45″E
,
29 April 2019
, leg.
Zhi-Teng Chen
(ICJUST)
.
Etymology.
The species is named for its
type
locality in the Qinling Mountains.
Remarks.
When compared to the above species, the reduced male vesicle of the new species only resembles the recently described
I. oncocauda
. However,
I. qinlinga
can be distinguished from
I. oncocauda
by the generally reddish abdomen when alive, the absence of posteromedial process on tergum 10, the modified dorsal and ventral aedeagal lobes, and the less developed subgenital plate in female (see figs.
5–16 in
Huo & Du 2018
). Another Chinese species with a reduced male vesicle is
I. neimongolica
, whose vesicle is obsolescent. However, the mostly pale head, pale pronotum and dorsally dark femora and tibiae of
I. neimongolica
(original description in Chinese,
Yang & Yang 1996
) can be separated from the color pattern of
I. qinlinga
(
Fig. 2
). When compared with other known
Isoperla
females from
China
, the slightly developed rounded subgenital plate of
I. qinlinga
is only similar to that of
I. eximia
(see fig.
220 in
Teslenko & Zhiltzova 2009
), but the two species can be easily distinguished by the vesicle and aedeagus in males. When compared with the East Palaearctic congeners (
Inada 1996
,
Zwick & Surenkhorloo 2005
,
Teslenko & Zhiltzova 2009
,
Judson & Nelson 2012
,
Teslenko & Khamenkova 2017
), the combination of the following characters is also diagnostic for
I. qinlinga
: head and pronotum mostly dark without banded patterns; vesicle reduced into a triangular hair patch; aedeagus membranous, lacking sclerites.
FIGURE 6.
Isoperla qinlinga
Chen
,
sp. nov.
, female paratype. A. female habitus, dorsal view; B. female habitus, ventral view; C. female terminalia, ventral view.
FIGURE 7.
Isoperla
qinlinga
Chen
,
sp. nov.
, A. type locality in Taiping National Forest Park, Qinling Mountain Range, Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, China; B. adult habitus when alive.
FIGURE 8.
Isoperla qinlinga
Chen
,
sp. nov.
, locality of one male paratype and one female paratype in Cuihuashan National Geopark, Qinling Mountain Range, Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, China.
FIGURE 9.
Distribution of
Isoperla
species in China. The species are indicated with different colour or shapes.
In the nine plausible Chinese species of
Isoperla
including the new species in this study, eight species have relatively detailed male descriptions (
Table 1
). However, in almost all older
Isoperla
species from
China
, the color patterns of the head and pronotum, the everted aedeagus and eggs have not been described and illustrated adequately as those from the Nearctic and north Palearctic regions (
Zwick & Surenkhorloo 2005
,
Teslenko & Zhiltzova 2009
,
Murányi 2011
,
Judson & Nelson 2012
,
Szczytko & Kondratieff 2015
), which should be supplemented in future works. Finally, according to the recorded localities of known
Isoperla
species from
China
, this genus is expected to have a wide distribution in northern two-thirds of mainland
China
(
Fig. 9
).