Neoperla palawan, Sivec & Stark, 2011

Sivec, Ignac & Stark, Bill P., 2011, New Species Of Neoperla Needham And Phanoperla Banks (Plecoptera: Perlidae) From The Philippine Islands, Illiesia 7 (24), pp. 264-279 : 268-269

Neoperla palawan sp. n.

( Figs. 12-14 )

Material examined. Holotype ♂ and 1♂ paratype, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, Palawan, Salakot Falls Road, 300 m, 19 March 1996. Additional paratypes: Palawan, San Rafael, Ulanguan, end of February 1996, 1♂ (all specimens deposited in the PZ collection).

Adult habitus. General color pale brown. Head without distinctive pigment pattern ( Fig. 12 ); pronotum pale brown with slender rugosities looped over disk.

Male. Forewing length 12 mm. Tergum 7 bearing a broadly rounded, posteromedian lobe, and a median sclerotized area which extends onto lobe ( Fig. 13 ). Tergum 8 with a small, median patch of sensilla. Tergum 9 with a pair of low, median humps bearing patches of sensilla. Hemitergal lobes curved slightly laterad near midlength, and scarcely narrowed from base to apex. Penis tube unsclerotized along ventral margin, but with a strong dorsal sclerite ( Fig. 14 ); tube unarmed except for minor microtrichia on bulb. Sac slightly longer than tube and armed in apical half with variably sized spines; largest spines in penultimate band near apex and in circular clusters at midlength of armature on ventral margin, and basolaterally in armature band; sac bent slightly ventrad and with only a low, rounded ventral outgrowth.

Female. Unknown. Larva. Unknown.

Etymology. The species name, used as a noun in apposition, honors the native Palawan people.

Diagnosis. This species is difficult to place but may be another member of the N. oculata complex. The absence of distinctive long outgrowths on the penis sac separates it from all but N. dentata among Philippine Neoperla . That species has a longer, dorsally directed penis sac armed subapically with very large spines along the ventral margin ( Sivec 1984), and the two species do not appear to be closely related.

Figures

Figs. 12-14. Neoperla palawan. 12. Head and pronotum. 13. Male terminalia. 14. Penis tube and everted sac, lateral aspect.