Rhopalopsole yadonga Chen & Wang & Li 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Chen, Jing
name: Wang, Hongliang
name: Li, Weihai
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Plecoptera
Leuctridae
Rhopalopsole
Rhopalopsole yadonga

description: Rhopalopsole yadonga sp. nov.
(Figs. 3–6 & 7b)
Male. Forewing length 6.5–7.0 mm (n=4). Head black (Fig. 3a), slightly wider than pronotum; compound eyes dark brown; antennae (Fig. 7b) dark brown, inner margin with long hairs. Pronotum (Fig. 3a) brown, surface with dark brown longitudinal median and paramedial elliptical rugosities, anterior corners rounded, posterior corners angulate; wings subhyaline, veins brown; legs brown. Abdomen brown, terminalia mostly dark brown.
Terminalia. Tergum 9 (Figs. 3b, 4a, 5b) heavily sclerotized except medial portion anterior to a pair of darkly sclerotized transverse bands at posterior margin, the bands generally rectangular and covered by dense scales; Sternum 9 (Figs. 3c & 4b) longer than wide and rounded apically, basally with densely hirsute oval vesicle on a short pedicel. Tergum 10 (Figs. 3b, 4a, 5a, 5d) central plate subquadrate, with three darkly sclerotized separated sclerites, the mesal sclerite covered by sparse scales; transverse bars anteromedially darkened and thickened, with anterior portion projecting inward, posterior margins forming strongly sclerotized stripe. Lateral projections (Figs. 3d, 4c, 5c) sclerotized, a rounded plate basally, wider than long in lateral view, and inner margin of the projections enlarged apically and appearing as a bilobed tip in dorsal view, in lateral view the upper lobe forming circular notch with the lower point. Cercus (Figs. 3b–3d, 4a–4c) hirsute and upcurved medially, without apical spine. Epiproct (Figs. 3b, 4a, 5d) hook like, regularly tapering to apex. Subanal lobes (Figs. 3b–3c, 4a–4c, 5a, 5c) of large size, distinctly sclerotized, strongly upcurved apically, in ventral aspect apices are trilobed; in top view, the middle portion forming two bipartite lobes.
Female. Forewing length 6.5–7.5 mm (n=3). Subgenital plate (Fig. 6a) posteriorly produced into a semicircular lobe with an unsclerified triangular membrane medially in ventral view, and the lobe slightly bulging in lateral view (Fig. 6b). Sternum 8 with a pair of narrowly separately triangular sclerites, the anterior margin nearly overlapping with the posterior margin of subgenital plate.
Type Material. Holotype male (CAU): China, Tibet Autonomous Region, Yadong County, 27.4979° N, 88.9219° E, 3400 m, 12-VII-2018, leg. Liang Wang. Paratypes: 3 males, 2 females (HIST), 1 male, 1 female (CAU), same data as holotype.
Etymology. This specific name refers to the county from which it was collected.
Distribution. China, Tibet Autonomous Region.
Remarks. Rhopalopsole yadonga is a member of the R. magnicerca group as defined by Sivec et al. (2008), the group having on tergum 9 a pair of strongly sclerotized transverse bars that are covered in small, rounded knobs or scales. The new species can be easily distinguished from other members of the group by the inner margin of the lateral projections of tergum 10 being enlarged and incised apically. Additionally, the subgenital plate in females is similar to R. longispina Yang & Yang, 1991 of the R. magnicerca species group (see figs. 43 & 44, Li & Yang, 2012). The subgenital plate in the new species has a much wider subgenital plate (Fig. 6a); sclerites of sternum 8 are triangular and narrowly separated whereas those of R. longispina are L-shaped and widely separated.
description: Published as part of Chen, Jing, Wang, Hongliang & Li, Weihai, 2022, Two new species of the genus Rhopalopsole (Plecoptera: Leuctridae) from China, pp. 569-578 in Zootaxa 5129 (4) on pages 570-577, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5129.4.6, http://zenodo.org/record/6504168