Abstract
We revise the genus Prespelea Park, redefining and redescribing the two previously known species, P.copelandi Park and P.quirsfeldi Park, and adding ten new species: P.parki Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n., P.minima Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n., P.morsei Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n., P.divergens Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n., P.carltoni Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n., P.myersae Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n., P.georgiensis Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n., P.enigma Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n., P.wagneri Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n., and P.basalis Caterino & Vásquez-Vélez, sp. n.. The genus is still only known from a relatively small area in the southern Appalachian Mountains, but the diversity is much greater than previously suspected. The new species exhibit considerable diversity in male secondary sexual characters. A preliminary phylogenetic analysis cannot conclusively resolve the polarity of eye and wing reduction across Speleobamini, but the monophyly of Park’s subgenus Fusjugama, if expanded to include all species with full-eyed and winged males, is not supported, and we therefore synonymize it with Prespeleas. str.
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