Neoperla rostrata, 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 : 34

7. Neoperla rostrata n. sp.

( Figs. 33–36 )

Material studied: Republic of Angola, J Holotype: Uíge, Sierra do Uíge, waterfall, - 7°40’23’’S, 14°56’17’’E 615 m, 3.xii.2015 C.Léger ( NEOP005 ; cleared abdominal tip in microvial on pin, genitalia on Slide Z 17.52; SMTD).

Habitus. Large, WL 15.8 mm. Thoracic nota and the turbid wings dull greyish-ochre, underside yellow. Frontoclypeus brownish, occiput and head medially from the eyes yellowish. Ocelli very small, about 2 diameters apart, connected by a transverse black spot. Palpi and flagellum brownish, femora and cercus light, tibiae and tarsi dark grey.

Male ( Figs. 33–36 ). T7 with a transverse sclerotised strip in anterior third, pale and soft behind it, with a triangular sclerite in the soft center. The sclerite projects caudally, the blunt-tipped process with SB along the edges and on the lower side ( Fig. 33 ). The wide pale centre of T8 with a Y-shaped central sclerite, a group of SB in the middle. Antecosta of T9 interrupted in front of a pale median field behind which T9 is sclerotised, with a shallow furrow between strongly setose lateral swellings. The hemitergal process is a short straight spike, the mediobasal callus a large squarish plate with trunctate medial edge. Sternites unmodified.

Penis large, massive ( Fig. 34 ). The dorsal triangular sclerite around the basal opening extends far towards the soft, projecting penis tip. The everted endophallus rises subterminally on the ventral side as a wide undulating tube standing at right angle to the penis. Endophallic armature starting with slender basolateral spines. More distally spines form broad dorsal and ventral bands, dosal spines are more slender and finer than the ventral ones. Sides of endophallus with small spinules connecting dorsal and ventral bands near the apex, tip bare ( Figs. 35–36 ).

Female. Unknown.

DNA ( Figs. 491–493 ). Only the male holotype from Angola was sequenced for the COX1 DNA barcode fragment and is strongly supported (87.4/100/100) as sister to N. costata n. sp .

Etymology. The name is a Latin adjective in female gender alluding to the shape of the endophallus, rostratus meaning provided with a rostrum.

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 493. Partial (outgroup, clades A, B, D) codon-model maximum likelihood phylogram based on 356 mitochondrial genome and COX1 DNA barcode sequences (all-NT). Statistical support values above branches or near nodes are SH-aLRT and UFBoot for the codon-model analyses, followed by NT123 UFBoot. 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. See Fig. 492 for an overview. HT = holotype; PT = paratype; PCR = Polymerase Chaine Reaction; WGS = Whole Genome Shotgun.

FIGURES 33–41. Neoperla rostrata n. sp. and N. luhohonis n. sp., the male holotypes: N. rostrata, 33, tergites 6–10; 34, penis with evertedendophallus,Scales are1.0mm forthe abdomen,100µm forthe penis.;35, 36, details of armatureare tothe samescale. N. luhohonis, 37, abdominal tip in dorsal view, not to scale; 38, the partly everted penis in side view, the endophallus remains attached to the accidentally detached distal portion (39). 40, 41, enlarged details, to the same scale. Solid lines show location of enlarged details, the broken line connects points originally connected before the rupture. Scales are 100µm.