Neoperla tansanica, 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 : 112

49. Neoperla tansanica n. sp.

( Figs. 272–277 )

Neoperla sjostedti — the doubtful male of Klapálek (1910): 56, fig. 1.

Type material studied. United Republic of Tanzania, Holotype J: Ukami \ TYPUS [print, red paper] \ TYPUS [print, white paper] \ det. P. Zwick 1980 Neoperla sp. A 1; 1 paratype J, Ukami Dtsch.Ost Africa; both under the label N. sĵstedti [sic] Klp. in coll. Klapálek, NMCZ; neither is a syntype of N. sjostedti . 1♁ paratype: D.O.Afrika, Sigi [little river flowing NNE from the Usambara Mts, ~ 4.76°S, 38.50°E], 1.12.05, Chr. Schr̂der ( ZMB; originally pinned, transferred to ETOH, in poor shape, tergites in microvial, penis on slide Z16.172).

Additional material studied. Slide Z 19.06 is of another ♁ taken together with the paratype from Sigi R. but damaged (possibly by Psocoptera), only the penis tip with the attached endophallus is left inside the abdomen ( ZMB) .

Habitus. Male WL 10–11 mm, wing tips damaged. Pigmentation variable, wings barely infuscate to brownish. Head with or without black spot around ocelli. Antenna dark or dark with pale scape, tibiae either dark or light. Cercus pale, distally progressively dark.

Male ( Figs. 272–277 ). Hind tibiae flat and wide. T7 process strong, beak-like with sharp overhanging tip (Figs, 272–273). Concave rear face smooth except some SB near bottom. Sclerite on T8 anteriorly wide, caudally a bare band, middle strongly raised, front of forward inclined hump with SB. T9 unmodified. HT10 short, straight, sharply pointed, mediobasal callus plump, rounded ( Fig. 272 ).

Penis ( Figs. 274–277 ) a wide soft tube, sclerotised only dorsally near base and ventrally in subterminal region. Distal half with long lateral spine bands which converge and turn to the ventral side. Projecting base of endophallus with a pair of transverse spine bands. Endophallus at base half as wide as penis, rapidly tapering to a narrow tube which is more than twice longer than the penis. Long slender spines without order inside the entire endophallus are visible by transparency.

Female. Unknown.

DNA. No data.

Notes. Two differently pigmented males have identical genitalia. Klapálek (1910) associated the specimen with dark tibiae with N. sjostedti and illustrated it under that name. His figure agrees with the present ones, except for differences due to preservation: dry and pinned ( Klapálek 1910, his fig. 1) versus cleared ( Figs. 272–273 ). Neoperla sjostedti is a different species and not closely related to N. tansanica .

Etymology. Named after the country of origin.

Figures

FIGURES 272–277. Neoperla tansanica n. sp., ♁ holotype: 272, 273, abdominal tip in dorsal and lateral views, not to scale, segments and HT10 labeled; 274–276, contracted penis, from left in ventral, lateral and dorsal views; 277, penis tip with partly everted endophallus, paratype from Ukami. Scales are100µm. Ce, cercus; E, epiproct.