Neoperla sorella, 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 : 144

67. Neoperla sorella n. sp.

( Figs. 386–390 )

Type material. Holotype ♁ (Z86/21), 1♁, 1♀ (Z86/20) paratypes, Guinée, Bolonzo 9, 19.X.84, P.L. [piège lumineuse]. 1♁ paratype, Forécariah [9.37N, 13.08W], Rep. Guinée — Conakry, 5.XI.91, col. J.A.A.Pedras (gift L.S.W.Terra, SMNS; slide 17.034) (all SMNS).

Habitus. WL 7.8–9.0mm. Light ochre, center of frontoclypeus and a streak along occipital suture orangebrownish, no dark spot between ocelli.

Male ( Figs. 386–387 ). Middle and hind tibiae slightly widened and flattened. External genitalia similar to N. heideae n. sp., but HT10 is sinuous, not bisinuous (i.e., not forming a medially directed hooklet, Fig. 386 ).

Penis tube with only a terminal spinule patch on the dorsal side. The endophallus is little longer than the tube and almost straight. The ventral side is bare, the dorsal face is covered by one broad and dense band of spinules. The tubular end of endophallus is surrounded by small spinules ( Fig. 387 ).

Female ( Fig. 388 ). S8 with a short brown nail projecting little. The vagina is unmodified, the SSt is short and forms not even one complete ring. The basal 2/3 of the SSt are very wide, the SSt lacks scales on the entire concave side. The distal third of SSt thins rapidly, the short spermathecal duct bears a curled spermatheca ( Fig. 388 ).

Egg ( Figs. 388–389 ). Size 353*240µm, shape ovoid, the anchor pole narrower than the operculum. There is a slight angle in the egg contour at the base of operculum. Numerous levogyrous spiral striae extend from pole to pole, only on top of the operculum some punctures stand in polygonal groups. The fine structure of striae agrees with N. heideae n. sp. There is no collar, anchor cavity and the mushroom-shaped anchor are very small.

DNA. No data.

Note. N. sorella n. sp. and N. larvata n. sp. co-occur. Male tergites 7–9 are similar, but the hemitergites, the penes, females and eggs differ clearly.

Etymology. The name is a noun in apposition, the diminutive of Latin soror, sister, for the slightly smaller sister of N. heideae n. sp. and N. larvata n. sp..

Figures

FIGURES 386–390. Neoperla sorella n. sp.: 386, 387, male holotype, abdominal tip and everted penis; 388–390, female paratype, genital situs and egg (with enlarged detail of 2 merging striae) from Bolonzo. Scales are 100µm, unless differently labelled. FIGURES 391–393. Neoperla simplex n. sp., ♀: 391, 392 genital, situs and egg of paratype from Sankuru; 393, operculum of egg of holotype from Yangambi. Figs 391 and 393 not to scale. a, anchor; mi, micropyle; n, nail; od, oviduct; sa, spermatheca; SSt, spermathecal stalk.