Neoperla moae Zeng, Huo & Du 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zeng, Liang-Liang
name: Huo, Qing-Bo
name: Du, Yu-Zhou
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Plecoptera
Perlidae
Neoperla
Neoperla moae

description: Neoperla moae Zeng, Huo & Du, sp. nov. (DZaedzm¨)   
 Neoperla minor, Mo et al., 2020b: 372 (misidentification).   
 Adult habitus. The description is modified from Mo et al. (2020b). General body color brown (Fig. 5A). Head pale brown, with a small oval dark brown marking covering ocelli and a yellow triangular stigma in front of obscure M-line; head slightly wider than pronotum. Pronotum pale brown except darker lateral margins and medial portion, rectangular, with obscure brown rugosities; anterior corners angular, posterior corners obtuse. Wing membrane brownish, veins brown; legs brown except basal femora paler. Abdominal segments and cerci pale brown.   
 Male. Forewing length 10.9 mm; hindwing 9.3 mm. (n = 1) The posterior margin of tergum 7 with a raised process densely covered with sensilla basiconica (Fig. 5B–C). Tergum 8 bears a recurved tongue-like process with small spines at the distal margin. Tergum 9 simple without sensilla patch. Hemitergal processes of tergum 10 sclerotized, short, slightly up-curved medially.   
Aedeagal tube long, slender, well sclerotized but lesser ventrally, ventroapically with a slender subapically bifurcate Y-lobe which arms with tiny spines at apex and about half as long as stalk of Y-lobe (Fig. 6A–C). Endophallus shorter than tube, and strongly curved ventrad forming an open loop; tiny spinules occur almost on the entire surfaces except basal portion and outer surface of apical half bald, while apical spinules stronger, and a patch of long spines located in outer margin of median half (Fig. 6B).  
 Female, egg, and nymph. Unknown.   
 Diagnosis. Aedeagal tube long, slender, well sclerotized but less sclerotized ventrally, ventroapically with a slender subapically bifurcate Y-lobe which arms with tiny spines at apex and about half as long as stalk of Y-lobe. tiny spinules occur almost on the entire surfaces except basal portion and outer surface of apical half bald, while apical spinules stronger, and a patch of long spines located in outer margin of median half (Mo et al., 2020).   
 Etymology. The species is named after Dr. Rao-Rao Mo, our colleague who first published the description and figures of this species.   
 Type materials. Monotype male (ICYZU), China: Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou City, Mt. West Tianmushan, 8–10.VII.2023, leg. Li Peng.   
 Distribution. China (Zhejiang).   
 Remarks. The aedeagus of N. moae sp. nov. is most similar to N. minor and N. muranyii Yang, Zhang & Li, 2017. The shape of the 7 th tergal process of the new species is transverse rectangular, but the process of N. minor is broadly round (Fig. 7). In addition, the aedeagal Y-shaped lobes of N. moae sp. nov. have more spiny apices; the endophallus is mostly covered with tiny spinules except basal half and a patch of long spines on outer surface of median half without hook-like apex. However, in N. minor, arms of Y-lobe longer than the stalk. Endophallus is shorter than the tube and covered with spines. In N. muranyii, arms of Y-lobe are apically naked; endophallus naked on its basal 2⁄3 and lacking a cluster of long spines located in outer margin of median half with a hook-like apex.   
 This new species has incomplete sclerotization of the slender aedeagal tube in ventral aspect; the endophallus is ventrally curved in an open loop and an elongate Y-lobe on the tube bifurcated subapically (Mo et al., 2020b). We herein assign N. moae sp. nov. to the Neoperla (Formosita) anjiensis –group (Zwick, 2023).
description: Published as part of Zeng, Liang-Liang, Huo, Qing-Bo & Du, Yu-Zhou, 2024, Revision of Neoperla minor Chu with a new synonym and a new species of Neoperla Needham (Plecoptera: Perlidae), pp. 79-90 in Zootaxa 5493 (1) on pages 83-85, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5493.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/13269269