Neoperla decorata Zwick & Zwick 2023, n. sp.
Creators: name: Zwick, Peter
name: Zwick, Andreas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Plecoptera
Perlidae
Neoperla
Neoperla decorata

description: 20. Neoperla decorata n. sp.    
(Figs. 96–98)  
 Type material studied: Republic of Cameroon, Holotype ♀: 5°1’17.65’’N, 9°46’10.39E, SW-Reg., 7km S Bangem, Ebonmin, coffee plantation, 1470m asl, 29 Oct 2011, MV-lamp, A.Zwick & D.Bartsch (NEOP053; 2 slides; SMNS).   
 Habitus. WL 15.0mm, Rs with 3 forks, front wing patterned by clear areas on dark grey ground (Fig. 96): Costal space clear, rest of basal half largely dark. Veins and membrane of same colour, except base of Rs and several vein sections along cord almost black. Dark crossveins in medio-cubital and cubito-anal space with narrow light borders. Distal half of wing lighter, distally from cord with a large clear area subdivided by a curved subapical fascia.   
Vertex orange-ochre, ocellar rings separate; frontoclypeus with greyish shades; occiput and along inner edge of eyes pale ochre. Pronotum infuscate with dark wrinkles, including a pair of paramedian parallels. Mesonotum with pale median spot, next to wing base a dark brown macula. Sides of meso- and metathorax with a dark fascia on pale ground. Abdomen and cercus pale, yellowish.  
Antenna, palpi and legs blackish, inner edge of femur and tibia, tibial apex and most of tarsus lighter, especially on hind leg.  
 Male. Unknown.   
 Female (Fig. 97). S7 with mediocaudal spot, S8 light brown in the front half and on a medial stripe attaining the firm concave caudal edge which is almost bare. Vagina slender, long, extending into S7, unmodified. The SSt forms about 1.5 rings of uniform diameter, about the basal third is modified, with scales only near the vonvex edge. Scales tightly packed like roof tiles similar to Fig. 108, spermatheca (not shown in the figure) coiled.   
 Egg (Fig. 98). Ovoid, plump, 430*245µm, collar inflated, at its base the chorion is thick and the egg contour is constricted. Anchor cavity large, transversely oval, edge of opening thickened. Anchor stem long, rolled in the cavity when it is covered by the cap, long and thin when exposed. With 12 to 13 straight ridges between base of collar and the rounded top of operculum, the micropyles are exposed. The chorion resembles corrugated iron, with very fine dense unordered punctures everywhere, except on the collar. No eclosion line, no cells.   
 Notes. We know of no other African Neoperla with patterned wings. Elsewhere occur several Neoperla species with wing patterns, e.g., N. variegata Klapálek, 1909 and N. alboguttata Zwick, 1986 from Borneo. Both are members of the so-called N. montivaga -group and are otherwise very different from N. decorata.   
 DNA (Figs. 492–493). The female holotype from Cameroon was sequenced for the COX1 DNA barcode fragment. The species is moderately well supported (49.1/99/91) as sister to N. planidorsum n. sp., and both species together with similar support (73.9/98/0) as sister to N. cataractae n. sp..   
 Etymology. The name is the female gender of the Latin adjective decoratus, ornate, an allusion to the patterned wings.
description: Published as part of Zwick, Peter & Zwick, Andreas, 2023, Revision of the African Neoperla Needham, 1905 (Plecoptera: Perlidae: Perlinae) based on morphological and molecular data, pp. 1-194 in Zootaxa 5316 (1) on page 54, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5316.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8154005