Neoperla annulatispina Mo, Li &amp; Wang 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Mo, Raorao
name: Wang, Ying
name: Wang, Guoquan
name: Li, Weihai
name: Murányi, Dávid
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Plecoptera
Perlidae
Neoperla
Neoperla annulatispina

description: <i>Neoperla annulatispina</i> Mo, Li &amp; Wang, sp. nov. (Figs. 1–2) <b>Adult habitus</b> (Fig. 1). Body color generally dark brown, abdomen pale. Head pale, with a prominent dark brown rectangular ocellar patch, and a smaller, semicircular spot interrupted by M-line; palpi brown; antennae generally brown, basal part paler; biocellate, the distance between ocelli ca. 2.0 X as wide as the diameter of the ocellus; head slightly wider than pronotum. Pronotum dark brown and rectangular, with scattered, dark rugosities and a pair of pale lateral areas; corners rounded. Wings brownish and transparent, veins dark brown; legs dark brown, basal two third of femora pale (Fig. 1e); cerci pale. <b>Male</b> (Figs. 1b–1d, 2a–2e). Forewing length 11.0– 12.4 mm (N=3). Tergum 6 with a posteromedial patch of sensilla basiconica. Tergum 7 with an anteromedian pair of sclerotized, upraised, nipple-shaped processes and a distal rectangular process on posterior margin covered with sensilla basiconica. Tergum 8 with a recurved triangular process, fringed with small distal spines. Tergum 9 with two paramedial patches of long hairs. Hemitergal processes of tergum 10 upcurved, finger-like. Aedeagus mostly membranous, falciform (Figs. 2a–2e). Aedeagal tube mostly straight, only dorsal surface sclerotized (Figs. 2a, 2c–2d). Aedeagal sac slightly longer than tube and curved ventrally, forming a right angle to tube; dorsolateral surface with 2–3 irregular rows of small spines; subapical portion with a complete ring of small spines; apical surface densely covered with tiny spinules; apical portion with a H-shaped, dark uneverted flagella (Figs. 2a–2e). <b>Female</b> (Figs. 2f– 2g). Forewing length 13.0– 14.5 mm (N=2). Habitus generally similar to male except dark brown marking on head is more extensive. Sternum 8 lightly sclerotized; the posteromedial margin slightly produced forming a small quadrate sclerotized subgenital plate. <b>Eggs</b>. Available females were void of matured eggs. <b>Type Material</b>. Holotype: male (HIST), China: Guangdong Province, Shaoguan City, Chebaling National Nature Reserve, Xiba, N 24°43’48”, E 114°15’36’’, 360 m, 2016.V.1, light trap, Luo, Liu, Xun &amp; Zhao. Paratypes: 1 male and 1 female (CAU), 1 male and 1 female (HIST), same locality and date as holotype. <b>Etymology</b>. The specific name refers to the ringed section of small spines of aedeagus. Latin “annulatus” means ringed and “spina” means spine. <b>Distribution</b>. China: Guangdong, Chebaling National Nature Reserve (Fig. 15). The exact habitat is unknown. <b>Remarks</b>. The new species is a member of the <i>Neoperla montivaga</i> species group (Zwick 1983). The new species shares similar head pattern, terminalia and aedeagus with <i>N. nigromarginata</i> Li &amp; Zhang, 2014 known from Henan Province of Central China. However, the new species can be separated from the latter by the following features: the paired lateral pale area of pronotum is smaller; aedeagal sac only with 2–3 irregular rows of small spines in dorsolateral surface; subapical spinous ring is complete; paired apical flagella is linked by a short sclerotized band. In <i>N. nigromarginata</i>, the paired lateral pale area of pronotum is bigger, comprising about 50% of the total surface; aedeagal sac with 2–3 irregular rows of small spines in dorsal surface and a large lateral patch of small spines, without subapical spinous ring or the ring is not complete; paired apical flagella are not connected. In addition, subgenital plate of female sternum 8 of <i>N. nigromarginata</i> has a small median notch at posterior margin, while the subgenital plate of the new species lacks a median notch. The COI sequence of <i>Neoperla annulatispina</i> Mo, Li &amp; Wang, <b>sp. nov.</b> and <i>N. nigromarginata</i> had a consistent length of 659 bp, and both biased toward A and T nucleotides (<i>N. annulatispina</i>: 26.0% A, 21.3 C, 18.6% G and 34.1% T; <i>N. nigromarginata</i>: 26.3% A, 21.7 C, 18.1% G and 34.0% T). The genetic distances were calculated for the 16 sequenced specimens (Table 2). In our study, pairwise distances of the two <i>Neoperla</i> species were 2.0–2.8%; with an average of 2.3%, slightly higher than 2% threshold considered for a rough differentiation between intraspecific and interspecific distances (Hebert <i>et al</i>. 2003; Zhou <i>et al</i>. 2009). The minimum and average interspecific sequence divergences of the two species are higher than the maximum intraspecific sequence divergences (0.6–1.1%) without overlap (Table 2). In the Neighbor-joining (NJ) tree (Fig. 3), male and female specimens of <i>N. annulatispina</i> are grouped in the same clade, separated from the clade of male and females of <i>N. nigromarginata</i>. The combination of morphology and molecular data suggest that <i>N. annulatispina</i> is a new species to science.
description: Published as part of <i>Mo, Raorao, Wang, Ying, Wang, Guoquan, Li, Weihai &amp; Murányi, Dávid, 2021, Two new species and three new provincial records of Neoperla (Plecoptera: Perlidae) from Nanling Mountains, China, pp. 195-214 in Zootaxa 5040 (2)</i> on page 197, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5040.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/5531145
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