Amphinemura tulipa, Mo & Wang & Yang & Li & Murányi, 2021

Mo, Raorao, Wang, Guoquan, Yang, Ding, Li, Weihai & Murányi, Dávid, 2021, Two new species and four unknown larvae of Amphinemurinae (Plecoptera, Nemouridae) from southern China, Zootaxa 5040 (1), pp. 77-101 : 86-89

Amphinemura tulipa sp. n.

( Figs. 8–10 )

Diagnosis. Male: terga IX–X with short spines, epiproct with bicolored and apically outcurved lateral processes that are armed with three distinct spines on the inner edge, paraproctal median lobe long and lacks spine, outer lobe long and with double apical spines. Female: pregenital plate large and pale, subgenital plate bicolored and posteriorly rounded, paragenital plates distinct, inner genitalia with four sclerites.

Description. Adult habitus: Small sized species for the genus, general color brown. Head and antennae brown, palpi light brown. Thorax brown, pronotum with few and indistinct rugosities, wide trapezoid with square corners. Legs light brown. Wing membranes semitransparent, veins brown. Abdomen brown with slightly darker terminalia.

Male. Forewing length 5.2 mm. Tergum IX weakly sclerotized, with few and indistinct short mesal spines, and 6 paramedial long hairs along both sides of mid-posterior margin ( Figs. 8A , 9A ). Sternum IX with long and very narrow vesicle, apically slightly widened. Hypoproct rounded, apical half evenly tapering, apex short tubular ( Figs. 8C , 9B ). Tergum X weakly sclerotized, concavity beneath epiproct narrow with 5–6 small spines along lateral sides. Cercus slightly sclerotized, stout and short. Epiproct twice longer than wide in dorsal view, distal portion trifurcate but median process nearly unpigmented and hardly detected in dorsal view; in lateral view, the epiproct is slightly flattened with erect median process and curved lateral processes. The lateral processes complex horn-shaped and closely located, base and outer lateral sides dark, out-curved apex membranous but inner edge darkly sclerotized and armed with 3 distinct spines, among the basal one is upwards directed; median process originates from ventral sclerite and slightly longer than lateral ones ( Figs. 8A–B, 8D , 9A, 9C ). Paraproct trilobed: inner lobe blunt triangular, well sclerotized, overhangs the tip of hypoproct; median lobe long and tubular, apical portion up- and outcurved, apex sclerotized and hairy but lacks spine; outer lobe S-shaped, long and thin but well sclerotized, caudally curved apex ends in two strong spines ( Figs. 8–9 ).

Female. Forewing length 6.2–6.5 mm. Sternum VII produced in a broad circular pregenital plate, covering anterior half of subgenital plate; plate is pale, bulging in lateral view, base of subgenital plate and inner genitalia transparent through its surface ( Figs. 10A–B ). Sternum VIII forms a sclerotized, rounded and bicolored subgenital plate, medial notch is shallow and obscured by light median longitudinal stripe. Paragenital plate paired, forming small and rounded brownish patches connected with posterolateral edge of subgenital plate thorugh a membranous portion. Sternum IX trapezoidal, median half protruded anteriorly, in ventral aspect with anterior indentation. Paraproct short and brown, apex widely rounded; cerci short and brownish.

Female inner genitalia ( Fig. 10C ). Inner sclerite medially separated into rounded sclerites located anteriorly to the subgenital plate. Between the sclerites is a membranous tunnel with a tubular median sclerite leading to spermathecal ductus. A further, elongated sclerite is located beneath the subgenital plate’s medial pale stripe. The genital opening is wide and connected to the paragenital plates’ membranous portion.

Etymology. The species name refers to Tulipa L. flowers, regarding to the shape of the male epiproct resembling a tulip.

Type material. Holotype male: CHINA: Guangxi, Fangchenggang City, Shangsi county, Shiwandashan National Forest Park , Pearl River below tourist route bridge, 315 m, 21°54’07” N, 107°54’17” E, 29 March 2015, Jenő Kontschán, Junyi Li, Shan Li, Weihai Li, Dávid Murányi, Guoquan Wang leg. ( HIST) . Paratypes: same locality and date: 1 female adult ( HNHM) ; light trap on Yunwu Hotel balcony above Pearl River, 295 m, 21°54’18” N, 107°54’12” E, 26–29 March 2015, same collectors: 1 female adult ( HIST) , 1 female adult ( HNHM) .

Distribution and ecology. Hitherto known only from the Pearl River, a small submontane river in the Shiwandashan Mountains of Guangxi, China, close to the Vietnamese border. Three other species of stoneflies were recently described from the same section of the river, description of the habitat can be found in those publications: Rhopalopsole cestroidea Li, Murányi & Gamboa, 2017 (in: Li et al. 2017a), Sinacroneuria obscura Li & Murányi, 2017 (in: Li et al. 2017b), Neoperlops triangulatus Mo, Wang, Li & Murányi, 2020b . The new species was collected together with Amphinemura hamiornata , also belonging to the sinensis group, both at the light trap and by singling along the river, and A. hamiornata proved to be more numerous. Unfortunately, no associable larva for A. tulipa was found.

Affinities. The new species belongs to the sinensis group sensu Li et al. 2018. The male can be easily distinguished from the 25 other species assigned to this group on the basis of bicolored lateral processes of the epiproct that are armed with 3 distinct, far-set inner spines. The female is also distinctive by its rounded, lobe-less subgenital plate, contrary to the posteriorly lobed subgenital plate of the known females of the sinensis group.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Amphinemura tulipa sp. n. (male). A. Terminalia, dorsal view. B. Terminalia, lateral view. C. Terminalia, ventral view. D. Terminalia, caudal view. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 9. Amphinemura tulipa sp. n. (male). A. Terminalia, dorsal view. B. Terminalia, ventral view. C. Terminalia, lateral view. D. Terminalia, caudal view. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 10. Amphinemura tulipa sp. n. (female). A. Terminalia, ventral view. B. Terminalia, lateral view. C. Inner genitalia, dorsal view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.