Nemoura panda Zhu, Huo & Du 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zhu, Ya-Fei
name: Huo, Qing-Bo
name: Du, Yu-Zhou
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Plecoptera
Nemouridae
Nemoura
Nemoura panda

description: Nemoura panda Zhu, Huo & Du sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 73DFD88A-1D0C-4B92-B0DF-C6007E08CBCC
Adult habitus: Head dark brown, antennae brown; head slightly wider than pronotum; pronotum subquadrate, angles slightly blunt rounded with darker rugosity; Mottled wings, with light spots, veins brown; Legs light brown, with a subtle small yellow band in the middle of the femora (Fig. 10).
Male: Body length 4.4–5.3 mm, forewing length 6.5–7.2 mm, hindwing length 5.4–6.3 mm (n=10). Tergum 9 weakly sclerotized, with the posterior margin slightly concave medially; the posterior margin and central area are covered with numerous small spines, and there are 2–6 long hairs situated along the midline (Fig. 11A). Sternum 9 with claviform vesicle claviform, length approximately 3× width, slightly constricted basally, mostly membranous; hypoproct broad and semielliptical, tapering posteromedially to a slender tip (Figs. 11B–11C). Tergum 10 heavily sclerotized posterolaterally, with a longitudinal median concavity below epiproct, bearing several tiny, black spines located along anterolateral margin (Fig. 11A). Cerci mostly sclerotized and slender, with a large curved, flattened spine that bears 5 or 6 teeth (Figs. 12A–12D). Epiproct elongate, with slender basal cushion; apical sclerite curving upward and regularly curved small ring (Figs. 13A–13B); dorsal sclerite weakly sclerotized, with two nearly triangular sclerites along the lateral margin in the middle (Figs. 13A–13B); ventral sclerite prominently sclerotized, with a slender basal plate that bears a tuft of long bristles (Fig. 13C). Paraprocts divided into twp lobes (Fig. 14), inner lobe is a sclerotized strip; the inner side of inner lobe is distinctly sclerotized and connects to the tip of hypoproct (Figs 14A–14B) outer side of the base is sclerotized and curved, connected to the weakly sclerotized area of the outer lobe; outer lobe mostly sclerotized, like a mitten-shaped (Figs 14A–14B); the inner side is weakly sclerotized and connected to inner lobe, while the outer side sclerotized and have a small sclerotized protrusion, with pronounced sclerotization near cerci (Figs 14A–14B).
Female: Body length 4.9–5.7 mm, forewing length 7.5–8.3 mm, hindwing length 6.6–7.4 mm (n=9). Sternum 7 extended medially forming a well-developed pregenital plate with a broad base and a tongue-shaped distal portion, which is strongly sclerotized, overlapping sternum 8 completely and reaching anterior margin of sternum 9 (Fig. 15A). Sternum 8 shortened, with a strongly sclerotized subgenital plate located beneath the pregenital plate (Fig. 15B, 15C); subgenital plate features a W-shaped posterior margin; vaginal lobes on sternum 8 difficult to distinguish. Sternum 9 extended anteromedially, trapezoidal.
Type material: Holotype: 1 male, China: Hubei Province, Shennongjia Forestry District, Shennong Peak Scenic Area: Wangyoutai, 2612m, 31.460827°N, 110.205469°E, 2024-IV-21, leg. Ya-Fei Zhu & Xiao Yang. Paratypes: 12 males, 6 females, Wangyoutai, 2612m, 31.460827°N, 110.205469°E, 2024-IV-21, leg. Ya-Fei Zhu & Xiao Yan; 1 males, 1 females, Xiaolongtan, 2072m, 31.488501°N, 110.307884°E, 2024-IV-21, leg. Ya-Fei Zhu & Xiao Yang; 5 males, 2 females, Changyanwu, 2381m, 31.466208°N, 110.291151°E, 2024-IV-21, leg. Ya-Fei Zhu & Xiao Yang.
Etymology. The species name is based on the shape of the cerci, resembling a panda's paw (Wang et al. 2022). Giant pandas were once distributed in Shennongjia (Li & Denich 2004). Therefore, we named this species Nemoura panda sp. nov.
Distribution: China (Hubei Province).
Remarks. The male of N. panda sp. nov is most similar to N. sichuanensis. However, the new species can be easily separated from N. sichuanensis by the outer lobe of paraprocts that have a small sclerotized protrusion on the outer side of outer lobe (Fig. 14) and cerci with a large curved, flattened spine that bears 5 or 6 teeth (Fig. 12). For N. sichuanensis, the paraproct outer lobe lacks a small sclerotized protrusion (Fig. 7D) and cerci have two spines, one sharp spine and one curved spine at the apex (Fig. 5). The female of the new species also closely resembles N. sichuanensis. The subgenital plate of N. panda sp. nov features a W-shaped posterior margin (Figs. 15B–15C), whereas the subgenital plate of N. sichuanensis, is roughly triangular in shape. (Fig. 9B).
In addition, after examining a large number of specimens from Shennongjia, Hubei, we found that N. panda sp. nov has a similar elongated epiproct to N. sichuanensis and is easily misidentified as N. sichuanensis. We also speculate that materials studied in Li et al. (2009) might be N. panda sp. nov.
description: Published as part of Zhu, Ya-Fei, Huo, Qing-Bo & Du, Yu-Zhou, 2025, A new species of Nemoura, with the redescription and a new synonym of N. sichuanensis Li & Yang, 2006 (Plecoptera: Nemouridae), pp. 565-579 in Zootaxa 5632 (3) on pages 573-574, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5632.3.9, http://zenodo.org/record/15372639