Perlesta beatyi, Kondratieff & Zuellig & Lenat, 2011

Kondratieff, Boris C., Zuellig, Robert E. & Lenat, David R., 2011, A New Species Of Perlesta (Plecoptera: Perlidae) From North Carolina With Additional Records For North Carolina And Virginia, Illiesia 7 (27), pp. 297-301 : 297-299

Perlesta beatyi sp. n. Kondratieff, Zuellig & Lenat ( Figs. 1-7 )

Material examined. Holotype ♂, North Carolina: Robeson Co., Raft Swamp, Old Lowery Rd @ bridge, 2 mi E Red Springs, 2 May 2003, B. Kondratieff & R. F. Kirchner . Paratype: Same data as Holotype, 1♂ .

The Holotype is deposited at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C and the paratype ♂ in the C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity, Colorado State University.

Male. Forewing length 12 mm. General body color light yellow to yellow-brown. Head yellow except for brown quadrangular area over ocelli and brown triangular area forward of median ocellus, prothorax brown with a slight dark sutural line ( Fig. 1 ). Wings light amber, veins brown. Femora with a distinct apical black transverse band. Abdomen yellowish with brown posterior patches. Tergum 10 mesal sclerite brown, not divided, sensilla basiconica sparse ( Fig. 2 ). Paraproct broad of medium length, with small tooth obscure in lateral view ( Figs. 3 ), in caudal view, medium length, truncate at apex with the tooth at upper lateral margin ( Figs. 4, 5 ). Penis tube + sac long, caecum small, wider than long; lateral sclerite weakly developed; dorsal patch broad basally covering most of tube surface ( Figs. 6, 7 ).

Female. Unknown.

Egg. Unknown.

Etymology. The patronym honors Steven R. Beaty, Environmental Biologist, North Carolina Division of Water Quality. His on-going efforts to associate the adult and immature stages of North Carolina aquatic insects are noteworthy.

Diagnosis. The male of the new species can be immediately distinguished from all other known described Perlesta by the broad truncate paraprocts with a small lateral tooth ( Figs. 2-5 ). The authors were reluctant to describe this species because of the lack of positively associated females with mature eggs, but the male paraprocts are so distinctive that the males cannot be confused with any other described North American species.

Figures

Figs. 1-7. Perlesta beatyi. 1. Adult head and pronotum. 2. Male terminalia, dorsal. 3.Paraproct, lateral. 4.Paraproct caudal. 5. Paraproct apex indicating spine. 6. Penis, lateral. 7. Penis, dorsal.