Centroptella Braasch & Soldan, 1980 Figs 1-15, 16-18, 19-39, 40-48, 49-52, 53-59, 60-76, 77-80, 81-82, 83-89, 90-93, 94-109, 110-115, 116-122, 123-128, 129-132, 133-137, 138-143, 144-148, 149-152, 153

= Chopralla Waltz & McCafferty, 1987: 182, syn. nov.

= Crassolus Salles, Gattolliat & Sartori, 2016: 104, syn. nov.

Type species.

Centroptella longisetosa Braasch & Soldán, 1980.

Systematic position and characters.

Centroptella is characterized by an unusual combination of characters: on one hand, it undoubtedly belongs to the holophyletic taxon Baetovectata Kluge & Novikova, 2011, based on (1) presence of two marginal intercalaries in each space of wing (Fig. 149), (2) narrow and arched gonovectes of the penis (Figs 77-80, 141-143, 146, 150152) and (3) medially inclined subimaginal gonostyli when they are developing under the larval cuticle (Figs 79, 148). The taxon Baetovectata belongs to the holophyletic taxon Anteropatellata Kluge, 1997, which is characterized by the presence of a patella-tibial suture on the forelegs of the larva and female imago and subimago. On the other hand, the leg structure of Centroptella does not conform with the characteristics of Anteropatellata. The larva of Centroptella has the structure of the tibia modified and different on each pair of legs, so that the patella-tibial suture is absent on forelegs and greatly shifted distally on the middle and hind legs; a row of long setae, which in some other taxa forms a transverse arc, in Centroptella is greatly stretched along the tibia, being different on the fore, middle and hind legs (Figs 16-18, 49-51, 90-92); the female imago and subimago of Centroptella has the usual leg structure, with the patella-tibial suture not shifted distally, but without patella-tibial suture on forelegs. This leg structure is characteristic of the plesiomorphon Protopatellata Kluge & Novikova, 2011 and has striking similarity with the Afrotropical taxon Potamocloeon Gillies, 1990 (= Maliqua Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty, 1997), which undoubtedly belongs to Protopatellata and has no features of Baetovectata (Kluge 2019). The Neotropical genus Cloeodes Traver, 1938, which some authors have confused with Centroptella (see above), has none of these features, and its larval and imaginal leg structure is typical for Anteropatellata (Kluge 2017).

Besides this paradoxical combination of baetovectatan and protopatellatan characters, Centroptella has an evident autapomorphy: secondary swimming setae on the outer sides of the larval cerci in the distal part of the cercus have oval transverse bases and form a regular row (Figs 59, 129-131); in this respect, they resemble the primary swimming setae on the inner side of the cercus (Fig. 132), but they are smaller and less densely arranged.

Another peculiar character of Centroptella is the presence of a pair of spaced transverse rows of long bifurcate setae on certain abdominal sterna of the larva (Figs 58, 117-119); in different species these setal rows are present on sterna II-VI or on part of them, at least on sterna IV-V. Identical setal rows are found in a few other, non-related taxa (e.g., Potamocloeon Gillies, 1990 and Cloeodes Traver, 1938).