Neoperla song, Stark & Sivec, 2008

Stark, Bill P. & Sivec, Ignac, 2008, New Species And Records Of Neoperla (Plecoptera: Perlidae) From Vietnam, Illiesia 4 (3), pp. 19-54 : 36-37

Neoperla song sp. n.

( Figs. 57‐61 , 112‐114 )

Material examined. Holotype ♂ and 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (genitalia damaged) paratypes from Vietnam, Thua Thien‐ Hue , Bach Ma National Park near junction of Rhododendron and Five Lakes trails, 16 ° 11’ N, 107 ° 51’ E, 1200 m, 16 June 2000, B. Hubley, D.C. Darling, ROM 2000531 (Holotype and ♀ paratype ROM, ♂ paratype IEBR). Additional paratypes: Vietnam: Thua Thien‐ Hue, Bach Ma National Park, small stream 100 m past Five Lakes Trail, 9 June 2000, B. Hubley, ROM 2000518 , 1 ♂, 1 ♀ (pinned, ROM). Thua Thien‐ Hue, Bach Ma National Park, ca. 13 km on road from park entrance, 15 June 2000, B. Hubley, D.C. Darling, ROM 2000528 , 1 ♀ (pinned, ROM).

Adult habitus. Biocellate. Head with large dark area on frons covering ocelli, extending laterally to eye margins, forward to center of frons then abruptly constricted to a short mesal handle ( Fig. 57 ); dark areas interrupted by two pairs of pale spots. Pronotum brown with darker rugosities; median suture, anterior and posterior margins black. Wing membrane amber, veins darker but costal area pale. Femora pale brown, tibiae brown but darker at knee.

Male. Forewing length 11‐12 mm. Process of tergum 7 short, wide and broadly rounded on posterior margin. Tergum 8 mesal sclerite not elevated, armed with scattered sensilla basiconica and bearing a Vshaped notch. Tergum 9 with a pair of low mounds sparsely armed with sensilla basiconica; mesal patch absent ( Fig. 58 ). Hemitergal processes short and curved laterad. Aedeagal tube short, plump and poorly sclerotized; dorsoapical tube margin armed with a pair of low spinous lobes and ventroapical margins armed with a smaller pair of spinous lobes ( Fig. 59 ). Aedeagal sac about as long as tube but curved ventrad; sac armed subapically with a linear patch of large cultriform spines; a patch of small spines occurs apically to large spines and sac bears additional patches of small spines along dorsobasal margin and laterally near base and proximal to large spines.

Female. Forewing length 15 mm. Subgenital plate slightly produced but wide, involving more than half the posterior margin of sternum 8 ( Fig. 60 ); margin of plate lined with long setae. Vagina longer than wide and constricted near midlength; anterior chamber somewhat quadrate and lined irregularly with brown scale spines. Spermathecal stalk and spermatheca short, curled at tip and slender ( Fig. 61 ); a single accessory gland occurs near spermatheca tip.

Egg. Length ca. 0.33 mm, width ca. 0.30 mm. Collar ca. 0.06 mm wide, very short and constricted at base ( Figs. 112‐114 ). Chorion without striae or follicle cell impressions, but with minute, shallow pits over entire surface.

Larva. Unknown.

Etymology. The species name, based on the Vietnamese word for stream or river and used as a noun in apposistion, was selected by biology students at Mississippi College in a “name the Neoperla contest”. The name was suggested by Brandon Webb.

Diagnosis. The aedeagus and external genitalia of this species are somewhat similar to those of N. tetrapoda Zwick and other Bornean members of the N. oculata Banks complex as defined by Zwick (1986). It differs from these in having a wider and shorter process on tergum 7, a V‐ shaped notch on the mesal sclerite of tergum 8, and in lacking the extensive lobing of the aedeagal sac found among species of the oculata complex. The egg is similar in shape to that of N. boornensis (Enderlein) however the collar is shorter and wider and the chorionic detail differs ( Zwick 1986).

Figures

Figs. 57‐61. Neoperla song. 57. Head and pronotum, 58. Male terminalia, 59. Aedeagus, 60. Female terminalia, 61. Vagina and spermatheca.

Figs. 112‐117. Egg micrographs. 112‐114. N. song. 112. Egg, 113. Collar, 114. Lid. 115‐117. N. spinaloba. 115. Egg, 116. Collar, 117. Lid.