Neoperla schuelei, Zwick & Zwick, 2023

Zwick, Peter & Zwick, Andreas, 2023, Revision of the African Neoperla Needham, 1905 (Plecoptera: Perlidae: Perlinae) based on morphological and molecular data, Zootaxa 5316 (1), pp. 1-194 : 101

43. Neoperla schuelei n. sp.

(Figs. 227–230)

Type material: ♀ Holotype: Republic of Angola 20.XI.13, Malanje Prov .. 2km N of Socqueco, 994m, P. Schuele leg. -16- ( SMNS; NEOP177 , slide without number).

2♀ paratypes: Republic of Angola, prov. Uíge, Finca 7°38’08.6’’S, 14°56’25.8’’E 645m, 24.x.2013, at light, leg. M.Nuss ( SMTD; Z17.50 , NEOP178 (egg slide also in SMNS) & Z17 /51, NEOP179 ) .

Habitus. WL 12.7–14.7mm. Body and wings dark ochraceous, antennal base light, flagellum gradually darker, distally blackish, cercus black. Legs dark, almost black, except basal part of femora (1/3 on fore femur, half on middle leg, 2/3 on hind leg), knee and tip of tibiae lighter.

Male. Unknown.

Female (Fig. 227). S8 structurally unmodified, front half of sternite with a transverse brown spot, there is no distinct pigment in the caudal half of S8. Vagina unmodified, pale spinules near the attachment of SSt are very slender. SSt coiled, densely coated by slender triangular scales. Length of SST a full circle in the holotype, little more than half a circle in a paratype.

Egg (Figs. 228–230). Size 358*197µm, slender ovoid with narrow parabolic operculum, fused collar with two rings of cells. Anchor mushroom-shaped. Egg surface even, no raised costae, no concave sulci. However, the arrangement of the moderately fine punctures in wide flat bands between flat impunctate stripes which are only half as wide creates the illusion of a striate surface (Fig. 229). Micropyles in the punctate bands are unmodified. The operculum is smooth and has also no relief but the fine punctures on it stand in polygones surrounded by bare strips.

DNA ( Figs. 491–492 , 496 ). The female holotype and two female paratypes from Angola were sequenced for the COX1 DNA barcode fragment (holotype) and with the genome-skimming approach (both paratypes). They cluster together with near maximum support (85.8/99/100), and the species is maximally supported (100/100/100) as sister to N. bipolaris n. sp . .

Notes. Similar to N. spio , the sister species N. bipolaris n. sp. and N. schuelei n. sp. share slender, sharply pointed triangular scales in the SSt.

Etymology. Named in honour of Peter Schüle ( Germany, Herrenberg), who collected the holotype and other interesting material.

Figures

FIGURE 491. Codon-model maximum likelihood phylogram based on 83 largely complete mitochondrial genome sequences only (mt-NT). Statistical support values (SH-aLRT, UFBoot) from this and other analyses summarised by squares as explained in the figure. Terminal labels include information on the species, type status, gender, originating country, unique sequence identifier (NEOP###), sequencing approach and total basepairs of 13 mitochondrial, protein-coding genes. Clades of particular interest highlighted with colours that correspond to the clades in other trees. HT = holotype; PT = paratype; PCR = Polymerase Chaine Reaction; WGS = Whole Genome Shotgun.

FIGURE 492. Simplified overview of codon-model maximum likelihood phylogram based on 356 mitochondrial genome and COX1 DNA barcode sequences (all-NT). Terminal labels include information on the species only. Clades of particular interest highlighted with colours that correspond to the clades in other trees. The full tree is shown in Figs 493-498.

FIGURE 496. Partial (clades G, H) codon-model maximum likelihood phylogram based on 356 mitochondrial genome and COX1 DNA barcode sequences (all-NT). See Fig. 493 for common details.