12. Prostoia similis (Hagen, 1861)

Longhorn Forestfly

http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Plecoptera .speciesfile.org:TaxonName:6094

(Figs. 85‒94)

Taeniopteryx similis Hagen 1861:34 . Holotype male (United States National Museum), Washington D.C., USA

Nemoura similis: Banks, 1907:14

Nemoura divergens: Claassen, 1923:282 . Syn. Ricker, 1952:49

Nemoura divergens: Needham & Claassen, 1925:203

Nemoura similis: Needham & Claassen, 1925:214

Nemoura divergens: Claassen, 1940:54

Nemoura similis: Claassen, 1940:63

Nemoura (Prostoia) similis: Ricker, 1952:49

Prostoia similis: Illies, 1966:221

Nemoura (Prostoia) similis: Harper & Hynes, 1971:1138

Prostoia similis: Zwick, 1973:346

Nemoura (Prostoia) similis: Hitchcock, 1974:105

Prostoia similis: Poulton & Stewart, 1991:30

Prostoia similis: Grubbs et al., 2014:25

Prostoia similis: Stark, 2017:214

Distribution. Canada: ON, PQ. USA: CT, DE, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, VA, WI, WV (DeWalt et al. 2022)

Male. Macropterous. Body length 3.8–5.7 mm, forewing length 5.4–6.1 mm (n = 9). Gills absent. Cerci simple and unmodified (Figs. 85–86). Paraprocts with lightly sclerotized, undivided lobes. Epiproct ventral sclerite sclerotized throughout length, narrow in both dorsal and lateral profiles, and fully recurved over abdomen (Figs. 85–88), base narrow and gradually widening for ca. ⅔ of length (Figs. 85–86), tip scarcely deflected upward and tapered apically (Figs. 89–90); dorsal sclerite reduced and restricted to lateral arms in basal area, which are narrow and sinuous (Figs. 85–86, 91–92).

Female. Macropterous. Body length 4.6–7.4 mm, forewing length 6.4–7.8 mm (n = 13). The 7 th and 8 th sterna fused medially (Fig. 93); the 8 th sternum is modified slightly as a subgenital plate, with a medial excavation and distinct posterolateral corners (Figs. 93‒94).

Larva. Described by Harper & Hynes (1971) with an additional partial illustration of the cercus in Stark (2017).

Comments. Prostoia similis is distributed in the eastern US and southern Canada south to Tennessee with few records from west of the Mississippi River (Grubbs et al. 2014, DeWalt et al. 2022).