Neoperla spaghetti, 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 : 128-130

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5316.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BC922E16-2614-4F3D-AD82-87A845DE7E2B
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16763695
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E12C876C-4A15-FF05-FF4F-FAB1FEFE0EF4
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Neoperla spaghetti
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

59. Neoperla spaghetti n. sp.

( Figs. 334–339 View FIGURES 334–339 )

Holotype ♀: Republic of Guinea Coyah [N 9.70600 W 13.38500] 4.3.1963 ( HNHM; genitalia plus eggs recovered from the abdomen, and fore body containing more eggs are mounted on separate slides Z19.61 [genitalia] & Z19.79 [body]).

Habitus. WL 11.1mm. The specimen was completely macerated, probably by decay. It is pale, except dark flagellum and tibiae. The body contains several well preserved empty eggs.

Male. Unknown.

Female ( Figs. 334–335 View FIGURES 334–339 ). S8 with two large brown plates separated by a pale area which near the antecosta is wide and funnel-shaped but is quickly reduced to a narrow band. The plates end some distance in front of a small brown mark at the caudal segment edge. Vagina unmodified, no sclerites or spines.A narrow spermathecal stalk with sparse armature of transverse pale scales rises from concentric folds on top of the vagina and forms an exceptionally long irregular tangle of uniform width, narrowing a little only next to the spermatheca which is crumpled, shape not clearly visible.

Egg ( Figs. 336–339 View FIGURES 334–339 ).About 300µm long, almost spherical, 37 straight striae with shallow costae and sulci. Sulci wide, irregularly punctate, microplyes freely visible. Anchor pole flat, no collar, anchor not available. Operculum wide and shallow, with distinct cells ( Figs 336–339 View FIGURES 334–339 ).

DNA. No data.

Notes. Neoperla spaghetti n. sp. resembles N. gordius n. sp. in S8, in an unusually long spermathecal stalk, and in absence of an egg collar. Other details differ much (e.g., strong opercular cells of N. spaghetti n. sp. and the very wide base of the spermathecal stalk of N. gordius n. sp. Affinities are doubtful, by punctation of eggs the two species might belong to different groups: N. spaghetti n. sp. with irregular punctation in the N. spio subgroup, N. gordius n. sp. with bilinear micro-punctures in the N. excisa and N. sjostedti -operational complex.

Etymology. By its extreme length the tangle of the narrow spermathecal stalk resembles a dish of spaghetti; a noun in apposition.