Rhopalopsole minutospina Li & Yang

Li, Weihai & Yang, Ding, 2012, A review of Rhopalopsole magnicerca group (Plecoptera: Leuctridae) from China, Zootaxa 3582, pp. 17-32 : 17-18

Rhopalopsole minutospina Li & Yang , sp. nov.

(Figs. 1–12, 47–48)

Male. Forewing length 4.4–4.6 mm, hindwing length 3.7–3.8 mm. Head and pronotum dark brown; compound eyes dark; antennae and mouthparts brown. Thorax brown; wings hyaline; legs brown. Abdomen brownish with terminalia brown.

Terminalia (Figs. 1–12, 47–48). Tergum 9 (Figs. 1, 4, 47) distinctly wider than long, with a narrow strip sclerotised along incised anterior margin and two narrow fields of scales at mid–posterior margin. Sternum 9 (Fig. 2) basally with tongue–like vesicle bearing dense hairs, apically with short but distinct trapezoidal subgenital plate. Tergum 10 (Figs. 1, 3, 5) central plate (Figs. 1, 5) with three broadly fused sclerites and the mid–anterior covered by spinule–like cuticular ornamentation and with sparse hairs, lateral projections strongly sclerotised, with a triangular base and ending in an incurved and downturned sharp spine, a tiny medial spine present on inner margin (Figs. 9–11); Cercus long and upturned subapically, without apical spine. Epiproct typical of the group, apically forming a hook with tiny marginal spines (Figs. 7–8). Subanal lobe (Figs. 6, 48) distinctly sclerotised and bulb–like, medially bulging with narrow furrows in ventral view, bulging area with rugosities between furrows (Fig. 12).

Female. Unknown.

Type Material. Holotype: male, China: Zhejiang, Qingyuan County, Mt. Baishanzu, light trap, 1994. V.18, 119.1902 E, 27.7337 N, Hong Wu. Paratypes: 2 males, same data as holotype.

Etymology. The specific name is a noun in apposition, referring to the tiny spines of the central plate.

Distribution. China (Zhejiang).

Diagnosis and Remarks. The new species is a member of the R. magnicerca group as characterized by Sivec et al. (2008), possessing sublateral fields of ornamentations of tergum 9, lateral projections, epiproct and cerci. Males of R. minutospina are distinguished from other members of the group by tergum 10 having lateral projections at the apex that are incurved and with a downturned sharp spine, a tiny medial spine also present on inner margin, and the bulb–like subanal lobe with rugosities between furrows (Figs. 1–5).