Paraleuctra cervicornis Du and Qian, 2012

Du, Yu-Zhou & Qian, Yu-Han, 2012, Paraleuctra cervicornis (Plecoptera: Leuctridae), a new stonefly from China, Journal of Natural History 46 (17 - 18), pp. 1059-1063 : 1059-1062

Paraleuctra cervicornis Du and Qian , sp. nov.

( Figures 1–4 )

Material examined

Holotype male

From Mt Niba (29 ◦ 39 ′ 51.83 ′′ N, 102 ◦ 36 ′ 14.16 ′′ E, 2250 m), Yingjing county , Sichuan Province, 17 June 1996, Leg. Du Yu-Zhou.

Paratype

One male and four females, same data as holotype ; one male and two females, from Mt Erlang (29 ◦ 50 ′ 55.05 ′′ N, 102 ◦ 18 ′ 16.16 ′′ E, 2380 m), Tianquan County, Sichuan Province, 7 June 1996, Leg. Du Yu-Zhou .

Description

Adult habitus

Head dark brown; three ocelli, the distance between two posterior ocelli is twice the distance to the compound eye; antennae and palpi brown; pronotum brown, rectangular with rounded corners; legs brown; wings light brown, veins brown.

Male ( Figures 1–3 )

Body length 5.5–6 mm. The tenth tergite partly cleft; supra-anal process produced backward into a recurved hook; sub-anal lobe process produced backward into a slender recurved sharp spine-like structure, best seen in lateral view. Subgenital plate is normally covered with dense long setae. Cerci modified into a chitinized bifurcated process and covered with less dense, short hairs, upper arm sharp, pointed and bearing a small, ventrally directed mesal spine, whereas the lower arm is rounded or somewhat truncate with an emarginated apex. The ninth sternum produced backward. Ventral lobe small, almost rounded, with many hairs at the lower part.

Female ( Figure 4 )

Sterna 1–7 sclerotized mesally and along lateral margins. Sterna 8 forms a long rectangular subgenital plate covered with dense long setae, extending across sternum 9, with a V-shaped apical notch, and at the end with a few longer setae.

Larva

Unknown.

Etymology

The species name refers to the cercal shape in lateral aspect.

Diagnosis

This new species is the same as other Paraleuctra species of China; the subgenital plates of both male and female with dense setae. However, shape of cerci of male and the subgenital plate of female are unique among all Asian Paraleuctra species ; this seems to be a good diagnostic character.

A key to male species of Paraleuctra from China

1. Male tergum 10 cleft or partly cleft...................................... 2 Male tergum 10 entire..................................... P. tianmushana

2. Dorsal and ventral arms of cerci apically acute........................... 3 Ventral arm of cerci rounded or struncate with emarginated apex................................................... P. cervicornis Du and Qian , sp. nov.

3. Male cerci with a small bulge on dorsal arm.................... P. orientalis Male cerci without a small bulge on dorsal arm.................... P. sinica

Figures

Figure 1. Paraleuctra cervicornis Du and Qian sp. nov. Terminal abdominal segments of male, dorsal view.

Figure 2. Paraleuctra cervicornis Du and Qian sp. nov. Terminal abdominal segments of male, ventral view.

Figure 3. Paraleuctra cervicornis Du and Qian sp. nov. Terminal abdominal segments of male, lateral view.

Figure 4. Paraleuctra cervicornis Du and Qian sp. nov. Terminal abdominal segments of female, ventral view.