Protonemura longispina Zhao & Du, 2020

Zhao, Meng-Yuan & Du, Yu-Zhou, 2020, A new species of Protonemura (Plecoptera: Nemouridae) from China and new images of three other species of the genus, Zootaxa 4802 (2), pp. 250-260 : 251-255

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4802.2.2
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B4E9A0E7-71E2-4889-A425-3F5394E76B12
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/A70A6C6E-FFAA-FFA0-FF05-FEECFBFEFB2D
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Protonemura longispina Zhao & Du
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Protonemura longispina Zhao & Du View in CoL , sp. nov.

Type material: Holotype, 1♂, China, Sichuan Province, Luding County, Yangjiageng River , 3646m, N 29°52.877′ E 102°01.193′, 2009-VII-4, leg. Qian Yu-Han ( ICYZU) . Paratypes, 3♀♀, the same data as the holotype ( ICYZU) .

Adult habitus: Head black, antennae dark brown, pronotum dark brown, anterior margin wider than posterior margin ( Fig. 1). Two cervical gills, one on each side of lateral cervical sclerites; inner single gills long, thin and sausage-like ( Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 ); outer gills form two long, thin subequal branches. Wings subhyaline, infuscate, veins brown. Legs with brown spots ( Fig. 1).

Male: Forewing length 7 mm, hindwing length 5.8 mm, body length 5 mm. Tergum 8 and tergum 9 sclerotized, concaved at distal margin, and tergum 9 bearing small and black spines in the concave. Tergum 10 sclerotized mostly and darkly sclerotized laterally, with a median membranous concavity below epiproct, bearing several small spines on lateral margins, laterally. Hypoproct broad basally, and tapering to a thin apex; vesicle large, length approximately ½ length of the hypoproct and 2X of width. Paraproct divided into 3 lobes; inner lobe sclerotized, slen- der, with a pointed apex; median lobe sclerotized, broad basally, then extended, narrowed and darkly sclerotized; outer lobe darkly sclerotized, basal part slender, recurved dorsally alongside cerci, bearing about 14 long sclerotized spines on the lateral margin of tip, the lateral portion divided into two lobes, extending long and sharp ( Figs. 3 View FIGURE 3 , 4 View FIGURE 4 , 6 View FIGURE 6 ). Epiproct oblong, dorsal sclerite slightly sclerotized, with a notch apically; lateral arms darkly sclerotized, slender; ventral sclerite broad basally, becoming narrower near apex and forming a median keel-shaped ridge, triangular laterally, bearing many long sclerotized spines ventrally, apical portion extending out of dorsal sclerite, apex of flagellum with a V-shaped notch ( Figs. 3 View FIGURE 3 , 5 View FIGURE 5 ). Cerci membranous, with hairs.

Female: Forewing length 9 mm, hindwing length 7.5 mm, body length 7 mm. Coloration and the cervical gills similar to male ( Fig. 1). Sternum 7 slightly produced distally. Subgenital plate wide, slightly sclerotized with concave medially, two sides of distal margin arc-shaped, extending to the anterior margin of sternum 9, beneath the plate a large membranous plate is located. Internal sclerites paired and finger-shaped, with a pair of strongly sclerotized crescent structure anteriorly and a filamentous slightly sclerotized strip posteriorly on each sclerite ( Fig. 7 View FIGURE 7 ).

Etymology: The Latin “ longispina ” meaning long spine, refers to outer lobe of paraproct bearing several long spines on the lateral of tip.

Remarks: The male of P. longispina appears most similar to P. datongensis Li, Murányi & Yang, 2017 , sharing a very similar epiproct but can be separated by the shape of the paraprocts. The outer lobe of the paraproct of the P. longispina has about 14 long sclerotized spines on the lateral margin of tip, whereas the outer lobe of the paraprocts of P. datongensis is armed with three shorter apical spines. Additionally, the lateral portion of outer lobe is divided into two long and sharp lobes, absent in P. datongensis .

Discussion: Protonemura longispina and P. datongensis appear to be sister species. Biogeographically, P. longispina is known from Sichuan Province of southwestern China. This region occupies most of the Sichuan Basin and the easternmost part of the Tibetan Plateau. Protonemura datongensis was described from Jin’e Mountain (also called Niangniang Mountain) of Qinghai Province of northwestern China, an area spread across the Tibetan Plateau. Further research, especially comparing DNA barcodes of both species may reveal if there is a close relationship among these two taxa. Of interest, recently, the complete mitochondrial genome of P. datongensis has been elucidated ( Wang et al. 2020).

To assist in the identification of Chinese species of Protonemura , which are often uncommon and restricted to high altitude lotic habitats, we present new color images of the following three species, P. biintrans Li & Yang, 2008 ; P. macrodactyla Du & Zhou, 2007 ; and P. bidigitata Du & Wang, 2007 .