Neoperla bareensis, 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 : 132-133

60. Neoperla bareensis n. sp.

( Figs. 340–343 )

Type material. Republic of Cameroon, ♀ Holotype: Kamerun, Bare [Baré, 5.019471°N, 9.963293°E], 24.- 28.XI.[19]08, Riggenbach ( NEOP227 , Z19.02; MfNB, pinned).

Habitus. A large female, WL 18mm. Light ochre, only the intra-ocellar spot and an indistinct streak along the occipital suture are dark.

Male. Unknown.

Female ( Fig. 340 ). S8 soft, without pattern, caudal edge unmodified, without strong setae. Vagina small, with many fine spicules laterally from the SSt which forms a thin coil barely twice as long as the vagina. The extensible and partly bare basal section is short, distally there is a dense pavement of scales.

Egg ( Figs. 341–343 ). Size 350*200µm, egg contour with slight angles near midlength and at base of parabolic operculum. About 25 levogyrous striae between anchor pole and base of operculum. No collar, anchor cavity large, opening constrained by the inward-turned chorion ( Fig. 341 ). Stem of mushroom-shaped anchor inserted in a small central depression ( Fig. 341 ). Costae are smooth, bare ( Fig. 342 ). Two regular rows of micro-punctures in the very narrow sulci diverge a little around micropyles ( Fig. 343 ). Ends of sulci a little wider and punctate, top of operculum with punctate polygonal cells ( Fig. 342 ).

DNA ( Figs. 491–492 , 497). The female holotype from Cameroon, the only known specimen, was sequenced with the genome-skimming approach, obtaining 10,962bp of the mitochondrial, protein-coding genes. The species is strongly supported (36.9/97/98) as sister to N. lineata n. sp..

Etymology. The name is an adjective derived from the name of the type locality.

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.

FIGURES 340–343. Neoperla bareensis n. sp., ♀ holotype: 340, genital situs, stained with safranin, base of SSt twisted and deformed during handling; 341, eggs; 342, opercular egg pole; 5, detail of striae, with a micropyle. Scales are 100µm or as indicated; a, anchor; sa, spermatheca; SSt, spermathecal stalk; V, vagina.