Stoneflys, Plecoptera, are considered to be the most primitive group of Neopteran Insects (Insects capable of flexing their wings over their abdomens; essentially all winged Insects except Deagonflies, Damselflies, Mayflies and some extinct groups). They have a simple, generalized bodyplan compared to more 'advanced' Insects, and have aquatic larvae that retain external wings till their final metamorphosis, when they gain external wings and leave the water (some forms have been found with larvae that can survive in moist terrestrial habitats, or that remain in the water as adults). Members of the Plecoptera appeared in the Carboniferous, though the group gained its maximum diversity in the Cretaceous.
In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 15 March 2016, Zhi-Teng Chen and Yu-Zhou Du of the School of Horticulture and Plant Protection & Institute of Applied Entomology at Yangzhou University, describe a new species of Stinefly from the Huangzhong County in Qinghai Province, China.
The new species is placed in the genus Haploperla and given the specific name triangulata, in reference to the shape of the epiproct (plate above the anus). The species is described from one male and seven females. Both sexes are pale yellow in culture, with paler heads and brown markings. Females are slightly larger than the male, with forewings reaching 7.0-7.5 mm, compared to 6.5-7.0 mm.
Haploperla triangulata. (9) Male in dorsal view. (10) Female in dorsal view. Scale bars are 1 mm. Chen & Du (2016).
See also...
Interpreting an Insect trace fossil from the Late Carboniferous of Massachusetts. In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in April 2011, Richard Knecht of the Department of Geology at Tufts University...
Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.
