New webspinner species discovered in China
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In southwestern China’s Yunnan Province, an insect collector found two male webspinners, insects that spin silk from their front legs, representing a family previously unknown in the country.
Researchers described the insects as Ptilocerembia qiului sp. nov. a new species extending the range of the Ptilocerembiidae family. The discovery confirms a long-held suspicion that the mountainous regions of southwestern China held undiscovered insect species.
Webspinners, belonging to the order Embioptera, create silk galleries for shelter and live in forests, leaf litter, and canopies. The Ptilocerembiidae family was first identified in Indonesia and previously only known from Indonesia, Myanmar, and Thailand. The newly discovered species fills a biogeographic gap and was named after its collector, Dr. Lu Qiu of Sichuan. Researchers distinguished P. qiului from other webspinners by examining its genital structures and sequencing its complete mitochondrial genome.
The genome revealed unique features, including missing tRNA genes and unusual tandem repeats, which may offer insights into the insect’s evolution. Genetic analysis confirmed the new species differed significantly from its congeners, supporting its status as distinct and suggesting other undiscovered species may exist within the region.
