A Preliminary Study On The Leptophlebiidae From Mainland Of China (Insecta: Ephemeroptera)

The mayfly family Leptophlebiidae is the single member of Leptophlebioidea (Insecta: Ephemeroptera: Furcatergalia). Up to now, more than 400 species have been described around world, they are divided into 3 subfamilies: Leptophlebiinae (include 39 genera), Atalophlebiinae (98 genera) and Habrophlebiinae (6 genera). This family has a series of plesiomorphies and autapomorphies, therefore, it is a important taxon in phylogeny reconstruction of Ephemeroptera. Further, it is a highly successful and diverse group, nearly cosmopolitan in distribution especially in southern hemisphere, such as in Australia, New Zealand, South America and Africa. The mayflies of this family also were collected frequently in southern China. Unfortunately, compared to known mayfly information of neighbor countries, previous knowledge on this family of our country is very poor. Upon diverse ecosystems and environments of Chinese mainland, and our field collection and specimens in hand, China should have much more species of it. The present work is a try to clarify and enhance the research on the Leptophlebiidae of Chinese mainland.The first chapter of this thesis reviews research history and status on Leptophlebiidae of the world. It shows that the research on this family of China is very sparse and preliminary, whateven in taxo(?)omy, ecology, morphological or molecular phylogeny. In order to upgrade some of them, leptophlebiid specimens collected from 20 provinces and municipalities of Chinese mainland are classified and identified in the second chapter. As a result, 32 species belonging to 9 genera are recognized. Among them, 22 species are described and figured in detail upon specimens. Sex new species are erected: Choroterpes (Cryptopenelld) longidensensis sp. nov., Choroterpides apiculata sp. nov., Paraleptophlebia brevilinguaensis sp. nov., Thraulus femoratus sp. nov., Thraulus longabdomenensis sp. nov., Thraulus aureusensis sp. nov.. The following synonyms is established: Choroterpes (Euthraulus) yixingensis Wu et You (=Choroterpes (Euthraulus) curviforceps Wu et You, Syn. nov.). Three new combinations are suggested: Choroterpes (Euthraulus) hainanensis (She, You et Gui, 1995) comb. nov. (from Indialis), Choroterpes (Cryptopenelld) facialis (Gillies,...