Stoneflies (Insecta: Plecoptera) provide essential ecosystem services and are vital components of aquatic ecological systems worldwide. Despite this importance, a well‐supported and fully‐resolved ...phylogeny of the order has remained elusive for over a century. Using transcriptome data from 94 species, we performed maximum likelihood and multispecies coalescent analyses with 1400 orthologous genes. This taxon sample includes representatives of all families, subfamilies and tribes of the North American fauna, providing the most complete molecular phylogenetic study of the North American Plecoptera to date. Analyses recovered high support for the resolution of previously unresolved or contested relationships and the elucidation of a few novel relationships among historically accepted clades. Results included recovering (i) Perlidae as the earliest diverging family of Perloidea, (ii) the clade Nemouridae + Capniidae instead of the traditionally recognized Leuctridae + Capniidae, (iii) Peltoperlidae as sister to four Systellognatha families and (iv) non‐monophyly of Chloroperlidae due to placement of the genus Kathroperla Banks. The position of Taeniopterygidae and Leuctridae remain inconclusive, as the placement of these taxa was not consistent between analyses of different data types nor was strong support for their relationships to other stoneflies recovered in a four‐cluster likelihood analysis. However, our results for the North American taxa establish a robust foundation for future phylogenetic studies of the Plecoptera world fauna.
Using transcriptome data from 94 species, we provide the most complete molecular phylogenetic study of the North American Plecoptera to date.
Results included recovering (i) Perlidae as the earliest diverging Perloidea family, (ii) the clade Nemouridae + Capniidae, (iii) Peltoperlidae as sister to four Systellognatha families and (iv) non‐monophyly of Chloroperlidae.
The phylogenetic position of Taeniopterygidae and Leuctridae remain inconclusive.
Recently, we reviewed the specimens of the genus Rhopalopsole Klaplek, 1912 we have collected and checked the holotype and paratypes of Rhopalopsole duyuzhoui Sivec Harper, 2008. We present ...morphological evidence that R. duyuzhoui is a junior synonym of Rhopalopsole basinigra Yang Yang, 1995, and that R. basiningra is a new distribution record to Guizhou Province, southwestern China. Additionally, a new species of this genus from Guizhou Province, Rhopalopsole dicondylica Yang Du, sp. nov. is described and illustrated. The new species is compared to the similar species of this genus.
Dracoleuctra siskiyou Lee Baumann gen. nov. sp. nov. a new apterous genus and species in the stonefly family Leuctridae (Insecta, Plecoptera), is described from males and females collected in ...southern Oregon, U.S.A. Habitus and terminalia are illustrated using both light photography images and scanning electron micrographs. Diagnostic characters, habitat, biological notes, and stonefly apterism in the Klamath Mountains region are discussed.
Two new species of the genus Rhopalopsole, R. brevidigitata Qian & Du, sp. nov. and R. faciursina Qian & Du, sp. nov. are described and illustrated from Yunnan Province of southwestern China. The new ...species are compared to similar taxa in the R. vietnamica and R. shaanxiensis groups, respectively.
We recently examined specimens of the genus
Hanson, 1941, from Zhejiang Province and Sichuan Province, China, and two new synonyms are established based on morphological and molecular data.
Yang and ...Yang, 1995, and
Li and Yang, 2010, are synonymized with
(Chu, 1928). Additionally, we provide new images of
Du and Qian, 2012, to facilitate identification of this species.
The family-level relationships within Plecoptera have been a focused area of research for a long time. Its higher classification remains unstable, and the phylogenetic relationships within Plecoptera ...should be re-examined. Here, we sequenced and analyzed two complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of Paraleuctra cercia and Perlomyia isobeae of the family Leuctridae. We reconstructed the phylogeny of Plecoptera based on 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) from published stoneflies. Our results showed that the Bayesian inference and maximum-likelihood tree had similar topological structures except for the positions of two families, Peltoperlidae and Scopuridae. The Plecoptera is divided into two clades, the suborder Antarctoperlaria and the suborder Arctoperlaria. The two suborders subsequently formed two groups, Eusthenioidea and Gripopterygoidea, and Euholognatha and Systellognatha, which is consistent with the results of morphological studies. In addition, the Leuctridae is the earliest branch within the superfamily Nemouroidea. But the monophyly of Perloidea and Pteronarcyoidea are still not well supported.
We present detailed evidence that Rhopalopsole trichotoma Yang & Du, 2021 and R. wulingensis Sivec & Shimizu, 2008, are junior synonyms of R. basinigra Yang & Yang, 1995 via a comparative ...morphological evaluation. We also present a comparison for R. basiningra from Guizhou Province, southwestern China, to understand the reliable characters of this species. New color images of male characters of R. tianmuana with some variations are provided.
Recently, we reviewed the specimens belonging to Rhopalopsole we have collected and compared them with the holotype and paratypes of Rhopalopsole vespertilio Chen & Du, 2017. We found that R. ...vespertilio should be synonymized with R. xui Yang, Li & Zhu, 2004. Additionally, a new species of the genus Rhopalopsole, R. nanlinga
sp. nov. from Guangdong Province of southwestern China, is described and illustrated. The new species is compared to the Rhopalopsole vietnamica west group.
The hyporheic zone plays a key role in stream ecosystem function, but the quantity of biomass produced in this unique and rarely sampled habitat remains underappreciated. We measured hyporheic ...secondary production and life history characteristics of a stonefly,
Leuctra tenuis
(Pictet, 1841), in two Ozark streams with extensive gravel beds: a mainstem perennial stream and a tributary with ephemeral surface flow.
L. tenuis
nymphs were collected 30–45 cm below the streambed surface in both locations monthly for a year (2017–2018). Annual hyporheic secondary production of
L. tenuis
was 15.23 mg m
−2
of streambed (95% CI 12.00–20.41) in the mainstem and 2.61 mg m
−2
(95% CI 0.95–4.83) in the tributary. Annual benthic production of
L. tenuis
collected concurrently from the mainstem was 12.06 mg m
−2
(95% CI 6.77–17.73).
L. tenuis
was univoltine and completed nymphal development in 8 months and approximately 3900 degree days (starting 20 January). This study is the first to measure hyporheic secondary production in the Ozarks, where many streams have deep hyporheic zones that could contribute substantial biomass to stream and riparian food webs. Our results, based on just one species of a diverse hyporheos, indicate the need for more ecological research in this habitat.
The species of Leuctridae (Plecoptera) from Guangxi, China are reviewed. Two species of Rhopalopsole are described as new to science, R. cestroidea sp. nov. and R. triangulis sp. nov., belonging to ...the R. vietnamica group and the R. magnicerca group, respectively. Six species of Leuctridae are now known for Guangxi including two additional species of Rhopalopsole and one Paraleuctra recorded for the first time. The previously unknown female of R. duyuzhoui Sivec & Harper, 2008 is described from specimens from Guangxi. Characters are illustrated for the separation of R. furcospina (Wu, 1973) and R. sinensis Yang & Yang, 1993. Mitochondrial sequences of five Rhopalopsole species support their specific recognition.
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