Rhopalopsole shaanxiensis Yang & Yang, 1994

Yang, Xiao & Du, Yu-Zhou, 2025, A New Species of Rhopalopsole (Plecoptera, Leuctridae) From Hubei Province, China, Based on Morphological and Molecular Data, Psyche: A Journal of Entomology (9910259) 2025 (1), pp. 1-9 : 5

2.1.2. Rhopalopsole shaanxiensis Yang & Yang, 1994 .

Rhopalopsole shaanxiensis Yang & Yang, 1994 . Entomotaxonomia, 16 (3): 189.

Rhopalopsole emeishan Sivec & Harper, 2008 . Scopolia, 64: 79–80.

2.1.2.1. Description. This species was well described by Yang & Yang [44] ( Figure 5 ) and was redescribed by Sivec, Harper, and Shimizu [14]. We provide color pictures of head and pronotum of the male adult and male terminalia for recognition of this species ( Figures 6 and 7 ).

2.1.2.2. Material Examined. Three males, China, Hubei Province, Shennongjia Forestry District , 2024–IV–22, leg. Yang Xiao & Zhu Ya-Fei ( ICYZU) .

2.1.2.3. Distribution. China, Hubei; Shaanxi. This species has previously only been reported in Shaanxi, China. This is the first record for this species in Hubei Province, China.

2.2. Molecular Data. The genetic distance analysis and phylogenetic analysis showed that the male and female specimens of the new species differed by only 0.0046 (0.46%), confirming their conspecificity ( Table 2 ) ( Figure 8 ). Rhopalopsole hamata is the species whose genetic distance was closest to the new species, with interspecific distance being 0.0942 (9.42%). In addition, the genetic distance of all other species was more than 10% and is different from the new species.

Figures

FIGURE 5: Rhopalopsole shaanxiensis Yang & Yang, 1994. (a) Male terminalia, lateral view. (b) Male terminalia, dorsal view (modified from [44]).

FIGURE 6: Rhopalopsole shaanxiensis Yang & Yang, 1994. Head and pronotum, male, dorsal view.

FIGURE 7: Rhopalopsole shaanxiensis Yang & Yang, 1994. (a) Male terminalia, dorsal view. (b) Male terminalia, lateral view. (c) Male terminalia, ventral view.

FIGURE 8: Phylogenetic tree of 10 leuctrid species obtained from the maximum likelihood analyses.