Neopanorpa brisi

Neopanorpa brisi (Navás, 1930)

(Fig. 2e)

Leptopanorpa brisi Navás, 1930: 4, fig. 3.

Neopanorpa brisi: Carpenter 1930: 280; Cheng 1957: 79, fig. 188; Byers 1970: 392, figs. 17–20.

Neopanorpa dimidiata Navás, 1930: 2, fig. 1; Cheng 1957: 94. syn. n.

Neopanorpa pilosa Carpenter, 1945: 75, figs. 1–2; Cheng 1957: 74, figs. 192–193. Synonymized by Byers 1970: 392.

Material examined. 10♂ 15♀, CHINA: Yunnan, Kunming: West Mountain (elev. 2200 m), 08.viii-2011, leg. Jing Chen & Jun-Xia Zhang; 10♂ 12♀, CHINA: Yunnan: Shangri-La: Tiger Leaping Gorge (elev. 2400 m), 07.viii.2010, leg. Hao Xu.

Diagnosis. Neopanorpa brisi can be readily distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: (1) Wings normally unmarked, tinged with grayish brown or yellowish brown in males, but with apical and pterostigmal bands in females; (2) male notal organ extending beyond half length of T4, with one pointed projection on each side basally; (3) male A6 bearing tooth-like projections on caudal margin, A7 and A8 elongated and constricted basally; (4) female genital plate with posterior arms spatulate, apices slightly curved mesad; main plate projecting laterad.

Measurements. Male (n = 10), forewing length 17.06 ± 0.61 mm, width 4.20 ± 0.31 mm; hindwing length 15.64 ± 0.67 mm, width 4.04 ± 0.24 mm. Female (n = 10), forewing length 15.92 ± 0.63 mm, width 3.71 ± 0.26 mm; hindwing length 15.01 ± 0.58 mm, width 3.57 ± 0.16 mm.

Remarks. Neopanorpa brisi is highly variable in body coloration from yellowish brown to grayish brown and wing markings from absence to extensive with apical and pterostigmal bands. The female normally displays extensive wing markings, while the male normally bears none or largely reduced wing markings. In addition, it is notable that the specimens from different locations show remarkable differences in general appearances. At the West Mountain in Kunming, the individuals are generally brown, wings tinged with yellowish brown, bearing narrow thoracic pattern on meso-and metanotum, the stripe on clypeus is absent or indistinct. At Shangri-La in northwestern Yunnan, the individuals display blackish brown body coloration, the wings are tinged with grayish brown, the thoracic pattern on the meso-and metanotum is relatively wide, and the clypeus has two longitudinal blackish brown stripes. Despite careful examination, no differences were found in genital characters, especially in male aedeagus and female genital plate. However, whether the two populations are conspecific or reproductively isolated needs further evidence.