Sweltsa liupanshana Rehman, Du & Huo, 2022

Rehman, Abdur, Huo, Qing-Bo & Du, Yu-Zhou, 2022, A new species of Sweltsa Ricker, 1943 (Plecoptera, Chloroperlidae) and a supplementary description of Sweltsa hamula Chen & Du, 2017 from China, Biodiversity Data Journal 10, pp. 86347-86347 : 86347

Sweltsa liupanshana Rehman, Du & Huo sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Wang Zhi-Jie & Xue Hia Yang; individualCount: 1; sex: male; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceStatus: present; Taxon: kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Insecta ; order: Plecoptera ; family: Chloroperlidae ; genus: Sweltsa ; specificEpithet: liupanshana; taxonRank: species; Location : continent: Asia ; country: China; countryCode: CN; stateProvince: Ningxia; locality: Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region , Liupanshan ( Liupan Mountain ) ; minimumElevationInMeters: 2250; Identification : identifiedBy: Abdur Rehman , Du Yu-Zhou , Huo Qing-Bo; dateIdentified: 24-04-2022; Event : year: 2008; month: 8; day: 18; Record Level : language: en; institutionCode: ICYZU; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen. Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Wang Zhi-Jie & Xue Hia Yang; individualCount: 2; sex: female; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceStatus: present; Taxon: kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Insecta ; order: Plecoptera ; family: Chloroperlidae ; genus: Sweltsa ; specificEpithet: liupanshana; taxonRank: species; Location : continent: Asia ; country: China; countryCode: CN; stateProvince: Ningxia; locality: Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region , Liupanshan ( Liupan mountain ) ; minimumElevationInMeters: 2250; Identification : identifiedBy: Abdur Rehman , Du Yu-Zhou , Huo Qing-Bo; dateIdentified: 24-04-2022; Event : year: 2008; month: 8; day: 18; Record Level : language: en; institutionCode: ICYZU; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen. Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: Du Yu-Zhou; individualCount: 2; sex: 1 male, 1 female; lifeStage: Adult; occurrenceStatus: present; Taxon: kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Insecta ; order: Plecoptera ; family: Chloroperlidae ; genus: Sweltsa ; specificEpithet: liupanshana; taxonRank: species; Location : continent: Asia ; country: China; countryCode: CN; stateProvince: Henan; locality: Baiyunnshan ; minimumElevationInMeters: 1445; Identification : identifiedBy: Abdur Rehman , Du Yu-Zhou , Huo Qing-Bo; dateIdentified: 24-04-2022; Event : year: 1999; month: 7; day: 20; Record Level : language: en; institutionCode: ICYZU; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen .

Description

Adult habitus: Triocellate. General body colour pale, yellow to brown in alcohol. Head with large, quadrate, median dark brown marking covering frons and ocellar areas; compound eyes black, ocelli brownish with black rings, median ocellus paler; antennae and palpi light brown (Fig. 1 A). Pronotum disc with brown median portion narrowly surrounded by elongate paler rugosities; sides paler (Fig. 1 A). Mesonotum and metanotum have dark brown U-shaped markings (Fig. 3 A). Wings membrane transparent, legs pale. The anterior margin of abdominal tergum 1 brown, terga 2-7 have wide rectangular brown median stripe, tergum 8 has a small elliptical stripe anteromedially, lateral dark patches also being present on segments 1-4. Cerci pale brown, generally paler and covered with long setae (Fig. 3 A).

Male

Body length 6.5-7.0 mm, forewing length 6.0-6.5 mm, hind-wing length 5.0-5.5 mm (n = 2). Tergum 9 paler, without any transverse process or modification (Fig. 1 B). Tergum 10 with sclerotised dark brown shield in middle (Fig. 1 B and Fig. 2 B). Sternum 9 ventrally with large trapezoidal subgenital plate, posterior margin truncate and extended over sternum 10 (Fig. 1 C). Epiproct short and parallel from base to apex dorsally; apex swollen, shiny and rounded dorsally; lateral margins of epiproct from base to middle portion darker, medially brown (Figs 1 , 2 ); laterally, epiproct dark brown, broad at base then slightly tapered apically, apex swollen and slightly bent upwards (Fig. 2 A-C).

Female

Body length 7.0-7.5 mm, forewing length 6.5-7.0 mm, hind-wing length 5.5-6.0 mm (n = 3). Habitus generally similar to male (Fig. 4 A). Abdominal terga 1-6 dorsally with rectangular stripes, tergum 7 with oval shape and tergum 8 with small rounded stripe anteromedially (Fig. 3 B). Posterior margins of sternum 8 bear large trapezoidal subgenital plate, covered with small hairs, reaching near posterior margins of sternum 9 and possess small rounded posteromedial notch. The sides of posterior notch covered with long fine hairs (Fig. 4 B-C).

Diagnosis

The shape of the epiproct is characteristic of this new species. Epiproct short and almost parallel from base to apex dorsally, lateromedially sclerotised; apex swollen and rounded in dorsal view (Fig. 2 B); in lateral view, epiproct parallel for its most part, except for swollen apex which is bent upwards (Fig. 2 C).

Etymology

The species is named after the type locality, Liupan Mountain, also known by the Chinese name Liupanshan.

Distribution

China (Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Henan Province).

Taxon discussion

The new species pigmentation is mostly similar to Sweltsa bicurvata ( Li et al. 2021) and Sweltsa brevihamula ( Dong et al. 2018), but these species possess a distinct sclerotised transverse ridge on tergum 9, while the new species lack that prominent morphological character. Sweltsa wui Stark & Sivec, 2009, S. recurvata Wu, 1938 and S. ligula Rehman, Huo & Du, 2022 lack the tergum 9 transverse ridge similar to the new species and share some similar morphological characteristics with the new species. The head of S. wui bears a distinct triangular spot and the pronotum presents a dark median band (fig. 1 in Stark and Sivec 2009). In contrast, the head of the new species has a large rectangular median dark brown marking covering frons and ocellar areas (Fig. 1 ). The epiproct apex of S. wui bears a sclerotised cap, laterally much-expanded apically (figs. 6 and 7 in Stark and Sivec 2009), while the new species epiproct apex is swollen and lacks the cap and the lateral apex is slightly swollen upwards (Fig. 2 A-C). Epiproct of S. recurvata is elongate, dorsally and laterally almost parallel from base to apex, apex pointed and, dorsolaterally, the tip is pencil-shaped (figs. 187-188 in Wu 1938), whereas the epiproct of the new species is much shorter, the apex is swollen like a bottle-cap and bent upwards in lateral view, easily differentiating the new species. The new species also show similar characteristics to S. ligula Rehman, Huo & Du, 2022. The epiproct of S. ligula is much larger and bears a spoon-shaped apex (figs. 1 and 3 in Rehman et al. 2022a), while the new species epiproct is short with a swollen apex. The female subgenital plate of the new species is similar to the S. ligula female, but can be easily distinguished by the body structure and pigmentation. The new species posterior notch of the subgenital plate is broader and sides of the notch possess fine hairs (Fig. 4 C), while the S. ligula plate is sclerotised and the posterior notch lacks hairs which easily distinguish these two females.

Figures

Figure 1. Sweltsa liupanshana Rehman, Du & Huo sp. n. Male A head and pronotum; B terminalia dorsal view; C terminalia ventral view.

Figure 2. Sweltsa liupanshana Rehman, Du & Huo sp. n. Male A terminalia lateral view; B epiproct dorsal view; C epiproct lateral view.

Figure 3. Sweltsa liupanshana Rehman, Du & Huo sp. n. A male abdomen, dorsal view; B female abdomen, dorsal view.

Figure 4. Sweltsa liupanshana Rehman, Du & Huo sp. n. Female A head and pronotum; B terminalia ventral view; C subgenital plate.