Neoperla simplex, 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 : 144-146

68. Neoperla simplex n. sp.

(Figs. 391–393)

Type material. Democratic Republic of the Congo: ♀ holotype, Coll. Mus. Congo Yangambi [0.767, 24.441] 11-V- 48 M. Gapon Don R. Mayné ( MRAC, NEOP232 , on minuten pin; genitalia and eggs on glass slide) . 1♀ paratype, Musée du Congo Sankuru Komi VII-1928 J. Ghesquière \ R. det. 1943 P \ Neoperla haugi Nav. P. Navás S.J. det. ( SMNS, ex MRAC, pinned, genitalia and eggs on pinned slide) . Republic of Cameroon: 1♀ paratype, Libamba 10km E of Makak 18-1-VI-1974 filtered black light, J.A.Gruwell ( USNM, pinned, genitalia and eggs on slide USNM _115)

Habitus. WL 11–13mm. Body colour light to dark ochre with a brown spot across the ocelli. Pronotum brownish, legs slightly infuscate, wings grey and turbid.

Male. Unknown.

9 The site was not located, possibly a misinterpretaion of the handwritten label. There are several locations with similar names in Guinea.

Female (Fig. 391). S8 with short nail without inner crests, vagina unmodified. SSt short, sausage-shaped, about 1.5* as long as vagina, completely scaly, distal scales slender, pointed and forming a dense coat (Fig. 391).

Egg (Figs. 392–393). Size 310–350 µm long (specimens from Sankuru and Libamba, respectively), 1.4–1.5* longer than wide, oval, operculum wide and bluntly rounded. The flat anchor pole surrounded by a smooth ring, no collar (Fig. 392). Egg of female from Libamba with shallow anchor cavity, in eggs from the Congo the large mushroom-shaped anchor inserts in a minute depression. Egg not striate, punctation moderately fine, visible at 100*, dense, distances between punctures little larger than the punctures themselves. On most of the surface there is no order but on the operculum punctures locally stand in lines and create a delicate network (Fig. 393). Micropyles in a loose ring near egg midlength.

DNA ( Figs. 491–492 , 497). Only the female holotype from the D. R. Congo was sequenced with the genome-skimming approach, resulting in only 1,551bp of mitochondrial, protein-coding genes. The species is nevertheless very strongly supported (97/100/100) as sister to N. larvata n. sp. + N. heideae n. sp..

Note. Because of the nail on female S8, N. simplex n. sp. had been placed in the N. excisa - N. sjostedti - operational complex which is now confirmed by DNA.

Etymology. Female genitalia as well as egg chorion are structurally simple (Latin simplex ), to which the adjectival name alludes.

V.1. The Neoperla sjostedti -complex (= clade K)

The monophyly of the N. sjostedti -complex (= clade K) is very strongly supported (98.7/100/100) by the DNA sequence data analyses. Its sister group relation to clade L (the N. arambourgana -complex) is maximally supported (100/100/100).

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.