Perlesta shubuta

Grubbs, Scott A. & DeWalt, R. Edward, 2012, Perlesta ephelida, a new Nearctic stonefly species (Plecoptera, Perlidae), ZooKeys 194, pp. 1-15 : 3

Perlesta shubuta Stark Figs 822-24

Perlesta shubuta Stark 1989: 282 [Type locality: USA, Mississippi, Simpson Co., Mill Creek; National Museum of Natural History; male]. DeWalt et al. 2011 [distribution].

Material examined.

USA: Alabama: Choctaw Co., Bogue Chitto Creek, 20 km NW Butler, 32.1872, -88.3969, 17.v.2011, S.A. Grubbs, ♂, 2♀ (WKU); tributary to Yantley Creek, 13 km NW Cromwell, 32.3004, -88.3837, 17.v.2011, S.A. Grubbs, ♂ (WKU); Sumter Co., Brockway Creek, 8 km SE Ward, 32.3369, -88.1977, 17.v.2011, S.A. Grubbs, ♂, ♀ (WKU). Louisiana: Natchitoches Parish, Kisatchie Bayou, Kisatchie Bayou Campground, Forest Rd. 366, 31.4416, -93.0893, 18.v.1992, at light, R.E. DeWalt, 2♂, ♀ (INHS), same but 9.vi.1992 (reared), R.E. DeWalt, 3♂, ♀ (INHS). Mississippi: Clarke Co., tributary to Long Creek, 20 km E Enterprise, 32.1673, -88.6260, 16.v.2011, S.A. Grubbs, ♂, ♀ (WKU); Rolling Creek, 8 km E Stonewell, 32.1470, -88.7076, 16.v.2011, S.A. Grubbs, 2♂, 2♀ (WKU); Simpson Co., Mill Creek, 14 May 1981, B.P. Stark, ♂ (Paratypes - BPS).

Egg.

Oblong (Fig. 22). Collar wide but short, highly-infolded, and flanged distally (Figs 23-24). Chorion covered completely by shallow depressions that are visible at higher magnification (1000 ×; Fig. 23-24).

Comments.

If the aedeagus is extruded fully, the combination of the updated taxonomic key provided in Stark (2004) and descriptions of Perlesta shubuta by Stark (1989, 2004) are sufficient to identify males of this species. In absence of eggs, however, females cannot be reliably identified to species. The distally-flanged, short egg collar is similar only to Perlesta nelsoni Stark, 1989 (see Grubbs 2005, Fig. 7), a species known from southern and central Appalachian drainages from Tennessee north to Pennsylvania and northward into New York ( Stark 2004, Kondratieff and Myers 2011). The line drawing of Perlesta shubuta provided by Stark (see Stark 1989, Fig. 93) does not show the flanged egg collar.