Protarcys Klapálek, 1912

Mo, Raorao, Li, Weihai & Murányi, Dávid, 2025, Protarcys Klapálek, 1912, the senior synonym of Neofilchneria Zwick, 1973 (Plecoptera: Perlodidae), Zootaxa 5618 (1), pp. 68-78 : 69-70

Protarcys Klapálek, 1912

Protarcys Klapálek, 1912: 8 (original description of the genus and its two original species); Smith 1917: 468 (notes on the generic characters of the original description; the two American species described in this work as Protarcys later were transferred to Setvena); Wu 1938: 30 (monograph); Claasen 1940: 117 (catalog; partim); Hanson 1942: 392 (complementary notes on generic characters; doubts about congeneric relationship of Chinese and American species); Illies 1966: 375 (catalog; reinstatement to genus level); Li & Murányi 2015: 52 (type locality data); Chen & Du 2018: 64 (generic key); Yang & Li 2018: 52 (catalog); DeWalt et al. 2024 (catalog).

Arcynopteryx (Protarcys) Klapálek, 1912 : Ricker 1943: 8 (classification as a subgenus); Ricker 1952: 81 (complementary description of the subgenus, distinction from Setvena).

Neofilchneria Zwick, 1973 syn. n.: Zwick 1973: 235 (original description); Zwick & Sivec 1980: 113 (description of Neofilchneria erberi , redescription of N. uncata , including larva and egg); Li & Murányi 2015: 51 (type locality data); Chen & Du 2018: 64 (generic key); Yang & Li 2018: 50 (catalog); Chen 2019: 563 (description of N. wanglanga , overview on the genus); Chen 2022: 116 (description of the larva of N. wanglanga from Sichuan); Zhang et al. 2024: 283 (complementary description of N. wanglanga from Yunnan and description of N. cheni from Hubei).

Filchneria Kawai, 1955 : Kimmins 1947: 737 (original description of Filchneria uncata ); Illies 1966: 360 (catalog; partim); Kimmins 1970: 351 (type catalog).

Diagnosis. Medium sized, dark brown Perlodinae with contrasting pale pattern; submental, meso- and meta thoracal gills present, furcal pit anteriorly connected to mesosternal ridge. Wings with many crossveins and a reticulated pattern apically. Male: sterna lack vesicle, tergum X widely divided into hemiterga, bearing sensilla basiconica and finger-like apical lobe directed inwards; epiproct with large basal anchor and moderate lateral arm, curved lever arm, stick-like paragenital plate without ventral projection, lacks stylet, cowl membranous and relatively small, rod of epiproct tip separated from lever arm, tip with hat-shaped apex. Aedeagus membranous with dense spines, long and cylindrical, sometimes with subbasal lobes. Female: subgenital plate large and rounded, usually with apical notch. Larva: having submental gill, lacinia bidentate, inner edge widely rounded; occipital setae sparse, first three abdominal segments divided by pleura.

Species included. Type species: Protarcys caudata Klapálek, 1912 , by original designation. Further species: Protarcys cheni ( Zhang, Li & Li, 2024) comb. n., Protarcys erberi ( Zwick, 1980) comb. n., Protarcys lutescens Klapálek, 1912 , Protarcys uncata ( Kimmins, 1947) comb. n., Protarcys wanglanga ( Chen, 2019) comb. n.

Affinities. The genus is assigned to Arcynopterygini, due to having finger-like apical lobe of hemiterga X, which is armed with sensilla basiconica, and having spherical eggs. The anteriorly connected furcal pit and mesosternal ridge is shared with Arcynopteryx Klapálek, 1904 , Frisonia Ricker, 1943 , Megarcys Klapálek, 1912 , Pseudomegarcys Kohno, 1946 and Skwala Ricker, 1952 . Arcynopteryx is distinguished by the modification of the epiproct tip into a flagellum. Frisonia , Megarcys , Pseudomegarcys and Skwala have lateral stylets, which are lacking from the Protarcys epiproct. The other Arcynopterygini genera are distinguished by having a different pattern of the furcal pit and mesosternal ridge ( Oroperla Needham, 1933 , Perlinodes Needham & Claassen, 1925 , Salmoperla Baumann & Lauck, 1987 , Setvena Ricker, 1952, Sopkalia Ricker, 1952 ).

There is no generic character to distinguish the female from the above five genera. The egg is typical for Arcynopterygini, with no distinctive character at the generic level. The larva is known only for P. uncata , as described in Zwick & Sivec (1980), and for P. wanglanga , as described by Chen (2022). They stated that it is the closest to Skwala but differs by sparser occipital setae, short marginal setae on the pronotum, and first three abdominal segments divided into terga and sterna.