Choroterpes (Afrochoroterpes) ndebele Agnew 1962

Choroterpes (Afrochoroterpes) ndebele Agnew 1962 (Figs 11–19, 22–27, 36–42, 57–70, 71–74, 81–83, 90–98) Choroterpes ndebele Agnew 1962: 363, figs 4a, b (♂ & ♀ imago, larva). Choroterpes (Choroterpes) ndebele: Peters & Edmunds 1964:; Kluge 2022: 178 (subimago). Material examined. SOUTH AFRICA, Western Cape province: Meul river (tributary of Kango river 25 km NE Oudshoorn), 33°24ʹ50ʹʹS, 22°22ʹ59ʹʹE, 30.I.2019, coll. N. Kluge & L. Sheyko: 1 L-S-I ♂, 1 L-S/I ♂, 1 L/S ♀, 20 larvae; lodge «Wild Spirit», tributary of Bobbejaans river 5 km NW Nature’s Valley, 33°57ʹS, 23°31ʹ30ʹʹE, 3– 5.II.2019, coll. N. Kluge & L. Sheyko: 1 larva. Eastern Cape province: Thomas Baianes nature reserve, 2.X.1995, coll. S. Mangold: 1 I ♂. Larva. CUTICULAR COLORATION. Head brown. Pronotum and mesonotum brown with few lighter areas (Fig. 11). Thoracic pleura ochre-brownish, sterna colorless. Legs ochre-brownish, each femur with diffusive longitudinal lighter area; on femur of fore leg, lighter area wider in proximal part; each tibia either uniformly ochre, or darker brown in distal part; each tarsus either uniformly ochre, or darker brown in proximal part (Figs 13–15). Abdominal terga with lighter and darker areas evenly repeated on terga II–IX; sterna lighter ochre (Fig. 12). HYPODERMAL COLORATION. Head and thorax with brown markings. Femur of each leg with more or less expressed longitudinal brown macula at middle and transverse brown macula near apex (Figs 18–19). Abdominal terga with extensive brown maculae (as in imago— Fig. 16). SHAPE AND SETATION. Labrum with shallow median emargination; distal transverse setal row evenly arched, proximal transverse setal row nearly straight (Figs 22–24). Mandibles with outer margin moderately convex (Fig. 25). Stout setae on anterior side of all femora numerous, relatively long and pointed (Fig. 36). Arched pectinate setae near inner margin of posterior side of hind femur numerous and relatively long (Fig. 37). Inner side of middle tibia with long, pointed, stout, pectinate setae similar to setae on fore tibia, but less numerous (Fig. 39). Anterior, inner and posterior sides of hind tibia with numerous, relatively long, pointed, pectinate setae, without non-pectinate setae (Figs 40–41). Posterior margins of all abdominal terga I–X with sharply pointed denticles (Fig. 42). Abdominal sterna without denticles. In male larva, posterior margin between protogonostyli with small median projection; protopenes elongate (Fig. 83). Winged stages. In both sexes, hind wing with blunt costal projection and fully developed apical part, so that wing apex locates near end of RA, and margin between apex of costal projection and wing apex concave (Figs 73–74). Subimago. CUTICULAR COLORATION. Head with colorless and light ochre-brown areas; flagellum of antenna brown. Pronotum ochre-brown. Mesonotum with lighter and darker ochre-brown areas: medioscutum with achromozone light ochre-brownish, chromozone only slightly darker (as in Fig. 79). Thoracic pleura and sterna with ochre-brown and colorless areas. Wings colorless, with microtrichiae dark brown. Legs nearly uniformly ochre-brown. Abdominal terga and sterna uniformly ochre-brown, sigilla of same color. Medio-posterior area of styliger lighter (as in Fig. 77). Caudalii uniformly ochre-brownish. HYPODERMAL COLORATION. As in imago: each femur with large brown maculae at middle and at tip (as in Fig. 17); abdominal terga with brown and ochre maculation (as in Fig. 16). TEXTURE. On legs of all pairs of both sexes, 1st–2nd tarsomere covered with microtrichia (as tibia), 3rd–5th tarsomere covered with very sharply pointed microlepides similar to microtrichia (Kluge 2022: table 15). Imago, male. Head brown. Dorsal eyes dull reddish-brown. Thorax brown, equally dark on dorsal, lateral and ventral sides; membranous areas of lateral side whitish. Fore and hind wings with membrane colorless, veins brown (Fig. 71–72). Legs ochre-brown, with large darker brown maculae at middle and tip of femur (Fig. 17); fore legs darker than middle and hind legs. Abdominal terga with brown and ochre maculation (Fig. 16). Genitalia— Figs 81– 82. Caudalii brown (cuticular coloration) with segment joinings bordered by dark brown (hypodermal coloration). Imago, female. Judging by wings developing in larval protoptera, their shape and venation as in male (Fig. 74) (see above). Judging by hypodermal coloration present in mature larva, coloration of legs and abdomen as in male. Egg (Figs 90–98). Elongate and narrowed, spindle-shaped, with two polar caps formed by papillae pressed together (Figs 90, 97). Under scan electron microscope (SEM), egg looks as having deep longitudinal grooves running from one pole to another; each groove contains a longitudinal row of small vesicles (Fig. 90). Chorion is armed with longitudinal ladder-like structures, each formed by a pair of undulate rods connected by numerous anastomoses (Fig. 95); the anastomoses are hidden in the longitudinal grooves between the rods and are mostly invisible under SEM; the vesicles are located above the anastomoses (Fig. 91). The rods and anastomoses can be visible in Canadian balsam (Figs 92–94), better visible in glycerin (Figs 95–96, 98). The vesicles are nearly invisible in glycerin (Figs 95–98); in Canadian balsam vesicles are visible either as light spots (Figs 92–93), or as dark spots (Fig. 94). Comments. Agnew (1962) described Ch. ndebele based on 2 male imagines (with the holotype among them), 3 female imagines and 2 larvae of various instars. Imagines and larvae were not associated by rearing, so belonging of the larvae to Ch. ndebele was not grounded. As proceeds from the original description, male imago of Ch. ndebele well differs from Ch. nigrescens by structure of genitalia (Agnew 1962: figs 4a and 4c); this fact is supported in the present study (Figs 78 and 82). As for the larvae, Agnew (1962: 364) wrote: «The only structural differences between nymphs of the two species seem to be in the gill lamellae, if Barnard’s drawings of those of his species are accurate». However, judging by reared specimens, individual variability of tergalii (Figs 43–70) is greater than differences between these two species assumed by Agnew (1962); so it is unclear, larvae of which species were characterized and figured by him under the names « Ch. ndebele » and « Ch. nigrescens ». Larva of Ch. nigrescens well differs from other species of Choroterpes by structure of labrum, which has very deep median incision on anterior margin (Fig. 20; Barnard 1932: fig. 39a), while Ch. ndebele has labrum of a usual shape, with moderately deep median incision (Figs 22–24).

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