Ephemera (Sinephemera) pictipennis Ulmer 1924
Creators: name: Lei, Zhi-Ming
name: Zhou, Chang-Fa
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Ephemeroptera
Ephemeridae
Ephemera
Ephemera pictipennis

description: Ephemera (Sinephemera) pictipennis Ulmer, 1924 (Figs 27–32, 64)
Ephemera pictipennis Ulmer, 1924: 28 (male imagine; sytypes from Shanghai, Kuling, China).
Ephemera pictipennis — Ulmer, 1925: 93; Wu, 1935: 248; Ulmer, 1935–1936: 212; Hsu, 1937: 292 (male imagine); Gui, 1985: 95; You et Gui, 1995: 106 (male imagine); Zhang et al., 1995: 75; Zhou, 2013: 186 (list); Hwang et al., 2008: 163 (list); Zhou, 2013: 186 (list); Zhou et al., 2015: 234 (list); Kluge, 2004: 237 (list, subgenus incertae sedis); Sartori et al., 2016: 57 (type depository).
Ephemera nigroptera Zhou et al., 1998: 139 (types: male and female, Huang-Tu-Ken, Anhui); Zhou et al., 2003: 70 (first description of nymph) (Synonymized by Zhou, 2013: 186).
Description (see Zhou et al., 1998 and Zhou et al., 2003).
Diagnosis: (1) Nymph: Length of frons ca. 1.5–2.0 width, anterior margin concaved into half, lateral margins slightly convex (Figs 27, 28A). (2) Tergite I with very shallow hump (Fig. 28B). (3) abdomen has similar color pattern to male or female. Male imagine: (1) Ocelli with black basal band (Fig. 29A). (2) Coxae of all legs with chocolate to deep brown stripes or dots, femora of all legs yellow to amber (Figs 30A–C), apical half to 2/3 of foretibiae black, foretarsi brown, especially apex of segments (Fig. 30A); mid– and hindtibiae and tarsi pale (Figs 30B–C). (3) All margins of pronotum chocolate, pair of dorsal stripes wide and black; meso- and metathorax blackto deep chocolate (Figs 29A–C). (4) Forewings with various tints of chocolate dots and stripes, whole plates tinged amber, outer half black (Fig. 30D). (5) Hindwings with median dot, veins black (Fig. 30E). (6) Abdomen pale to white, with chocolate to deep brown stripes: tergites I–VI with pair of oblique stripes near lateral margin, progressively smaller from anterior to posterior, those on tergite VI sometimes indistinct to invisible (Fig. 29A); lateral margins of tergites black (Fig. 29C). Sternites I–VIII with pair of oblique stripes, those on sternites VI–VIII nearly straight; sternite IX almost black (Fig. 29B). (7) Genitalia: Styliger plate white but with a pair of dots or short amber stripes, posterior margin of it slightly concave. Forceps brown to chocolate but 1/3 base pale to white; segment I and III subequal in length, segment II ca. 1.5x segment I, segment IV slightly shorter than segment III. Penes pale, slender, lateral half sclerotized, about 2.0x segment I of forceps in ventral view; apex of penes slightly expanded, forming a lateral projection (Figs 30G–H).
Female imagine: Color pattern similar to male imagine except those of tergites (Figs 29 D–F): tergites I–IV with pair of oblique stripes, tergites V–VII with two pairs of stripes fused at posterior ends, tergites VIII–IX with three pairs of stripes fused together in both ends (Figs 32D–F); those stripes on tergites V–IX usually fused together into pair of nearly straight stripes; tergite X with pair of lateral dots (Fig. 29D).
Comparison: This species is unique in its white-black body, relatively large body (Fig. 29) and half pigmented wings with black dots and markings (Figs 30D–F). Its males have longer penes than others (Fig. 30G). The penes of this species is similar to those of E. purpurata (long, spear-like, Figs 30G–H), but their body and wings have very different color (this species is black-white, but E. purpurata is reddish black). The nymphs of it can be identified by their large body and body stripes.
Remarks: this species has distinct black stripes on white abdomen, male and female have different color patterns.
Zhou et al. (1998) named the species E. nigroptera and described its nymph in 2003. But later Zhou (2013) synonymized it with E. pictipennis. This mainly results from the different color pattern of females (Fig. 32). After examining the types of “ E. nigroptera ”, it is believed here their different color patterns are variations of different populations. If the stripes on female tergites of “ E. nigroptera ” fuse together into one pair of stripes, they become the pattern of E. pictipennis (Figs 29, 32). Those two species have same genitalia.
Some materials of this species, especially the types of “ E. nigroptera ”, were collected in the morning (about 9:00 local time).
Material examined: China: 4 ♂ imagine, Huang-Tu-Keng, Jixi county, Anhui province, leg. Chang-Fa Zhou, 1996-V-1 (original specimens of “ Ephemera nigroptera ”); 1 nymph, same as the former locality, leg. Bei-Xing Wang & Fu-Rong Gui, 1998-II-11; 3 nymphs, same as the former, 1998-VII-27; 2 nymphs, Cha-shui river, Yuanfang town, Xiuning county, Anhui Province, leg. Bei-Xing Wang & Fu-Rong Gui, 1998- III- 1; 2 ♂ imagines, 1 nymph, gate of Tian-Mu-Shan, Zhejiang Province, leg. Chang-Fa Zhou, Yan-Yan Jia and Ping Chen, 2009-IV-26 – 27; 4 nymphs, same locality of the former, leg. Wei Zhang & Zheng-Xin Ma, 2019-IV-3; 6 ♀ imagines, Che-Ba-Lin, Guangdong Province, leg. Chuan-Chuan Gu, 1991-IV-26; 12 ♂ imagines, Hua-Wang village, Jing-Xiu, Guangxi Province, leg. Huai-Jun Xu, 2002-IV-13; 2 ♂ and 12 ♀ imagines, Si-Xing logging camp, Wuyi Mt., Fujian Province, leg. Wei Zhang & Zhi-Min Lei, 2012-IV-15; 2 ♂ and 3 ♀ imagines, Ma-Tou hill, Jiangxi Province, leg. Shuang Qiu, 2021-IV-17; 1 ♂ and 10 ♀ imagines, Jiu-Xi village, Suining county, Hunan Province, leg. Lang Peng, 2021-V-25.
Syntypes of Ephemera pictipennis are deposited in Zoological Museum of Hamburg (Sartori et al., 2016).
Distribution (Fig. 64): China (southern half).
description: Published as part of Lei, Zhi-Ming & Zhou, Chang-Fa, 2024, The subgenus Sinephemera Kluge, 2004 in China (Ephemeroptera: Ephemeridae: Ephemera Linnaeus, 1758), pp. 1-68 in Zootaxa 5517 (1) on pages 31-35, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5517.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/13915182