Neoperla pirus, 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 : 74

28. Neoperla pirus n. sp.

( Figs. 158–160 )

Material studied: Holotype ♀, Republic of Cameroon, Nguti [5.33N, 9.42E], 4/7/96 Coll. M. Picker, sweeping in forest near stream ( SMNS; NEOP064 ; slide MP.11).

Habitus. WL 12.3mm. A pale yellow specimen with a light brown spot between ocelli, flagellum distally, tibiae entirely indistinctly brownish, cercus pale.

Male. Unknown.

Female ( Fig. 158 ). S8 structurally unmodified, largely covered by a light brown spot. Front end of spot with a small pale kink near antecosta, an arched pale stripe across caudal part of spot. Vagina unmodified, with areas of pale spinules on either side of attachment of SSt. Spermathecal stalk with short, curved base, much widened towards middle section, distal section narrow and long. SSt lined with a continuous coat of brown scales except along a narrow bare seam on concave edge.

Egg ( Figs. 159–160 ). Pear-shaped, 266*208µm. Anchor pole wide, truncate, opposite egg pole shaped like a half sphere. No collar, anchor cavity bowl-shaped, opening for the mushroom-shaped anchor constricted. No striae, entire surface finely and irregularly punctate. Micropyles not found in preparation.

DNA ( Figs. 492 , 494). The female holotype from Cameroon was sequenced for part of the COX1 DNA barcode fragment (417bp). With such limited data, the species is placed with poor statistical support (64.9/67/89) as sister to the well-supported clade (75.4/99/99) of N. caeleps n. sp. + N. plicata n. sp..

Etymology. The name refers to the egg shape, Lat. pirus , the pear; a noun in apposition.

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 154–160. Neoperla plicata n. sp. and N. pirus n. sp.. N. plicata: 154, female from Makokou, genital situs, genitalia flipped back from S8 which is shown upside down; 155, egg of same; 156, diagrammatic section through anchor pole of same; 156 egg of ♀ from Odzala N. P.. N. pirus: 158, genital situs and egg of ♀ holotype, plus semitransparent detail of a second egg (NEOP064). Scales are 100µm. a, anchor; c, collar; cf, concertinated transverse folds; ls, lateral sclerite; sa, spermatheca; SSt, spermathecal stalk; V, vagina.