Perlesta armitagei n. sp. (Plecoptera: Perlidae): More cryptic diversity in darkly pigmented Perlesta from the eastern Nearctic Author Grubbs, Scott A. Author Dewalt, R. Edward text Zootaxa 2018 2018-06-29 4442 1 83 100 journal article 29801 10.11646/zootaxa.4442.1.4 0f0f11d9-27bb-487e-93e0-6c33ec5958b6 1175-5326 1301366 937D9736-2646-45D6-8C5D-3625A88FF2FB Perlesta xube Stark & Rhodes 1997 Pawnee Stone http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Plecoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:1241 ( Figs. 2 & 11 ) Perlesta xube Stark & Rhodes 1997 :92 . Holotype ♂ ( USNM ), Dry Creek , Merriman , Cherry Co. , Nebraska . Perlesta xube : Stark 2004 :95 Distribution. USA : IA, IL, ND, NE, OH ( DeWalt et al. 2018 ), IN (new state record) Remarks. The head masks of males and females of P. xube ( Figs. 2a‒2e ) are readily distinguished from P. armitagei sp. nov. ( Figs. 6a‒6h ) and P. cinctipes ( Figs. 5a‒5d ). The specimens (all males) determined as P. cinctipes in Stark (2004) were not of P. armitagei sp. nov. but of P. xube . Males of P. xube and P. cinctipes key to couplet 6 in Stark (2004) . This couplet focuses on whether the dorsal patch is “wider at apex than at base” ( P. xube , Stark 2004 , his Fig. 7.370‒7.371) or “narrow throughout most of length” ( P. cinctipes , Stark 2004 , his Fig. 7.300). Perlesta cinctipes is one of few Perlesta species where the fully-extruded male aedeagus has yet to be illustrated with a line drawing or SEM. The length of the sac is not fully understood, whether in relation to the length of the tube or length and shape of the caecum. An additional aedeagal characteristic is useful in differentiating between these two species. The dorsal patch of P. xube is expanded at the base and body of the caecum but not apically ( Stark & Rhodes 1997 , their Fig. 6 ; Stark 2004 , his Figs. 7.370‒7.371). The dorsal patch of P. cinctipes , however, expands well onto the caecum ( Stark 2004, his Fig. 7.299 ). Females of P. xube can be easily differentiated from P. cinctipes using Stark (2004) and from P. armitagei sp. nov. here with subgenital plate characteristics. Eggs of P. xube ( Stark & Rhodes 1997 , their Fig. 8 , Stark 2004 , his Fig. 7.404) are also distinct from both P. cinctipes ( Stark 1989 , his Fig. 17, Stark 2004 , his Fig. 7.394‒7.395) and P. armitagei sp. nov. ( Figs. 10a‒10d ). Perlesta xube overlaps in distribution with P. armitagei sp. nov. from southern Indiana east to Ohio and with P. cinctipes to date only in southern Iowa ( Figs. 11a‒11b ).