Neoperla dianae, 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 : 147-149

70. Neoperla dianae n. sp.

( Figs. 397–401 )

Neoperla sp. 8 — Moore 1991, figs. 1–3 (not sp. 8 of Zwick, 1973b).

Type Material: ♀ holotype: Gabonese Republic: Gabun, Belinga 155 L Coiffait ( SMNS; slide Z16/171, NEOP295 ) .

Paratypes: Republic of Cameroon: 1♀: USNM 114 B: Cameroon: Libamba 10km E of Makak 11–16-XI-1972 filtered black light, J.A.Gruwell; an egg of this ♀ was illustrated as N. sp. 8 (= N. leroiana ; the other 3 females in the same vial are indeed N. leroiana !) by Moore (1991). Slides USNM114 (eggs+situs, USNM) and Z17/103B (eggs, SMNS). 1♀: N.W. Kamerun Moliwe b. Victoria 7.III.–1.IV.09 Frfr.v. Maltzan G. ( MfNB) . 1♀: Kumba [4°38’M, 9°27’E], British Cameroons, 19.I.1949 (gift H.B.N. Hynes, slide marked HBNH, SMNS) . Democratic Republic of the Congo: 1♀ paratype, Congo belge: P.N. G. [Garamba] Miss. H. De Saeger Mt Embe 20-IV-1952 H. de Saeger 3347 \ Neoperla spio (Newman) Dr. N.Hynes det., 1959 [sic, in his hand] ( NEOP293 , MRAC) . 1♀ paratype: B. Congo, 39 km S of Walikale {1.40S, 28.00E}, 700m, XII-25-57 E.S.Ross & R.E.Leech ( NEOP294 , CASENT 8413063; slide Z18.032) .

Additional material studied. 1♀, Kamerun, Ekona,17.4.–20.5.38, Buhr S. G. ( MfNB)

Habitus. WL 11.0– 12.5mm. Yellow, no marks or pattern, possibly faded.

Male. Unknown.

Female ( Fig. 397 ). S8 with a wide and shallow notch from the middle of which projects a triangular nail. The sclerite inside the vagina is large, in front with a strong inversely U-shaped crest almost attaining the antecosta 8 which is modified, thickened and forms a curved ridge ( Fig. 397 , cr and ct, respectively). The vagina has small anterodorsal spine patches laterally from the attachment of the SSt. SSt short, forming about 1 ring, The wide base with only a delicate spine band along the convex side is short. Distally the coil is narrower and has a complete coat of scales.

Egg ( Figs. 398–401 ). Size 300*180µm, subspherical when freshly removed from the female ( Fig. 399 ), stout oval when strongly dehydrated, and with a slight angle in the contour at the base of the operculum ( Fig. 398 ). The numerous levogyrous striae have bare wide costae and very narrow sulci with two regular rows of micropunctures. The micropyles stand in small oval impunctate widenings of the sulci ( Fig. 401 ). Anchor pole narrow, with a bare ring instead of a collar. The small anchor is mushroom-shaped and inserted in a shallow funnel-shaped cavity ( Fig. 400 ). The shape of the operculum varies with general egg shape, from parabolic to rounded, it is covered by large punctures without order.

DNA ( Figs 491–492 , 498). The female holotype from Gabon and two female paratypes from the D. R. Congo were sequenced with the genome-skimming approach, resulting in 11,001bp of mitochondrial, protein-coding genes from the holotype. The monophyly of the species is maximally supported (100/100/100), and its sister relationship to N. dolium n. sp. + N. gibbosa n. sp. is near maximally supported (99.9/100/100).

Notes. Female structure is unique; the strong sclerotisation of S8 and the massive crest on the nail posibly indicate strong mechanical impact during copula. The egg of an unidentified species from Nigeria ( Benin) illustrated by Moore (1991, his figs. 58–61) seems to be similar to N. dianae n. sp. but differs by sulci with two distinct rows of rather large punctures and micropyles that are simple holes between the punctures, there is no widening of the sulcus.

Etymology. This exceptional species is dedicated to Diana Hartley (CSIRO), in appreciation of her invaluable help with laboratory work for this and other DNA studies.

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 397–401. Neoperla dianae n. sp., female: 397, genital situs (Libamba, Cameroon); 398, egg from Kumba, Cameroon, with variable thickness of chorion (reddish-brown), arrow points at abrupt thinning; 399, egg from Walikale, D. R. of the Congo; 400, anchor pole with collar and anchor and 401, detail of striae with 2 micropyles (from Libamba). Scale lines are 100µm, unless differently indicated; a, anchor; ac, anchor cavity; co, costa; cr, curved ridge; ct, crest; mi, micropyle; n, nail; sa, spermatheca; su, sulcus; SSt, spermathecal stalk; V, vagina.