Neoperla lineata, 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 : 133-135

61. Neoperla lineata n. sp.

( Figs. 344–350 )

Type material. Gabonese Republic, ♀ holotype: Nyanga Prov., stream at bottom of ravine 02°.36.927’S 11°16.140’E elev. 302m 21ii.2018 S.M.Bybee & Y.M.Pacheco ( NEOP228 ; slide Z18.96; USNM) .

Habitus ( Fig. 344 ). WL ~ 12mm, wing tips missing. Head yellow, ocellar spot heart-shaped. A short thin line along occipital suture, diffuse marks in front of ocellar spot and on frontoclypeus are also infuscate. Segments 2+3 of maxillary palpus infuscate, distal segments missing. Scapus yellow, no flagellum. Basal two cercus segments yellow, remainder missing. Both pairs of wings dark grey, except yellowish costal-subcostal space. Hind femur yellow, tibia infuscate; no tarsus. Other legs missing. Pronotum and exposed part of mesothorax dark grey.

Male. Unknown.

Female ( Figs. 345–346 ). S8 with a pale anchor mark in a brown spot. Caudolaterally stand long setae, the anterior brown portions of sternite with short stiff hairs, the pale anchor and the caudo-medial part of sternite are bare. Vagina slender, no lateral sclerites but lateral areas with fine spinules (arrow in Fig. 346 ). Spermathecal stalk thin, with unifom diameter, coiled, ca 1.5 times longer than vagina, densely paved with scales.

Egg ( Figs. 347–350 ). Ovoid, size 335 * 216 µm. Anchor pole truncate, no collar, anchor cavity shallow ( Fig. 347 ).Anchor with long thin stem and a delicate wide cap. Operculum parabolic. Sides with approximately 38 straight striae, costae impunctate, flat, sulci are narrow and smooth, with two lines of exceedingly fine micropunctures ( Fig.

348; magnification 630*). Micropyles in the sulci are about 2–3µm wide ( Fig. 350 , arrow). Around the base of the operculum small swellings form a pale ring ( Fig. 349 ). Punctures on the operculum are fairly large and stand in polygonal groups.

DNA ( Figs. 492 , 497). The female holotype from Gabon, the only known specimen, was sequenced for the COX1 DNA barcode fragment. The species is strongly supported (36.9/97/98) as sister to N. bareensis n. sp . .

Notes. The type female received was as a torso full of eggs. Exceptionally narrow sulci in which micropyles and punctures cannot easily be recognised occur also in N. massevensis n. sp. and N. conradti . A ring of pale swellings near the operculum occurs also in N. gibbosa n. sp.. These two species have spiral egg striae.

Etymology. The name is a Latin adjective alluding to the line-like sulci of the egg.

Figures

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 344–350. Neoperla lineata n. sp., female holotype: 344, fore body; 345, genital situs, vagina and SSt were flipped back to expose the anchor pattern on S8; 346, entry of SSt into vagina, arrow points at fine spicules; 347, egg; 348, count of costae on one quadrant of an egg cross-section (from a photograph); 349, detail of pale ring between striae and operculum; 350, micropyle (arrow) in the narrow sulcus between 2 costae, scale is 10µm; the other scales are 100µm. S8, sternite 8; sa, spermatheca; SSt, spermathecal stalk; V, vagina.