Nepsalus Navás, 1914

Zheng, Yuchen, Hayashi, Fumio, Price, Benjamin W. & Liu, Xingyue, 2022, Unveiling the Evolutionary History of a Puzzling Antlion Genus Gatzara Navás (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae: Dendroleontinae) Based on Systematic Revision,, Insect Systematics and Diversity 6 (3), pp. 1-22 : 11-12

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.1093/isd/ixac007
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038D8B2B-442D-FF9A-FF5D-AC66FA26F8A4
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Nepsalus Navás, 1914
status

Treatment

Genus Nepsalus Navás, 1914 View in CoL View at ENA

Nepsalus Navás 1914: 250 View in CoL ; Banks 1929: 372 (synonymized as Nepsalus View in CoL ); Stange 1976: 299 (status recovered); Stange and Wang 1998: 216; Stange 2004: 94; Machado et al. 2019: 444.

Type Species: Nepsalus indicus Navás, 1914: 250 View in CoL (original designation and monotypy).

Included Species. Nepsalus caelestis (Krivokhatsky 1997) comb. n.; Nepsalus chikuni sp. n.; Nepsalus decorillus ( Yang 1997) comb. n.; Nepsalus decorosus ( Yang 1988) comb. n.; Nepsalus indicus Navás 1914 View in CoL ; Nepsalus insolitus ( Walker 1860) View in CoL comb. n.; Nepsalus jezoensis (Okamoto 1910) comb. n.; Nepsalus petrophilus (Miller % Stange in Miller et al. 1999) comb. n.

Diagnosis. Adult: Body pale brown with many black markings. Antennae black on intumescent part. Pronotum longer than wide. Legs long and slender; tarsi with thickened setal brush; pretarsal claw slightly curved, protruded basally. Wings sometimes falcate, apex slightly pointed, with some broad brown markings; costal area simple; anterior Banksian line present; rhegma present as a dark brown spot; forewing cubital area with a brown marking and an arcuate brown marking (continuous or discontinuous); hind wing poststigmal area generally brown; male pilula axillaris present. Female gonocoxites 8 with anterior branch elongate; posterior branch of gonocoxites 8 more than half length of anterior branch, but shorter than or as long as entire anterior branch; gonapophyses 8 weakly sclerotized. 3rd instar larva: Mandible hardly upturned, with pseudo-teeth developed in addition to three normal teeth. Mesothoracic tuft of long hair-like setae absent. Thoracic setiferous processes pedunculated and well developed. Abdomen generally green with many dark brownish markings; a pair of setiferous processes present on each side of abdominal segments 2–7; abdominal segment 8 without odontoid processes; abdominal segment 9 longer than wide, triangular.

Disoribuoion. China, India, Japan, Korea peninsula, Malay peninsula, Russia (Far?ast), Vietnam.

Remarks. In the type species of Nepsalus , i.e., N. indicus , the wings are nearly falcate with many brown markings, the rhegma is present as a spot, and the forewing cubital area has a brown marking fused with a discontinuous arcuate brown marking ( Fig. 6A View Fig ). Notably, despite of the loss of the female genitalia of N. indicus holotype, Stange (1976, 2004) mentioned that its posterior branch of gonocoxites 8 is as long as the entire anterior branch. The Gatzara species herein transferred to Nepsalus definitely have these diagnostic characters.

Concerning the previously proposed synonymy between Nepsalus and Neglurus by Banks (1929), we examined the holotype of Neglurus vitripennis Navás 1912 (the type species of Neglurus ). We confirm that Neglurus should be a synonym of Dendroleon as treated by Stange (1976), because the female gonocoxites 8 are divided into short tubercular anterior and long digitiform posterior branches (Supp. Fig. S1 View Fig ).

Consequently, Nepsalus is corroborated to be valid and distinguished from Gatzara based on a series of characters, such as the nearly falcate wing with many distinct brown markings, the forewing cubital area with a brown marking and an arcuate brown stripe, the rhegma present as a dark brown spot, and the female gonocoxites 8 with posterior branch more than half length of anterior branch, but shorter than or as long as entire anterior branch. The great genetic divergence between Nepsalus and Gatzara also suggests the clear separation of these two genera.

Nepsalus caelestis ( Krivokhaosky, 1997) comb. n. ( Figs. 1A and B View Fig , 5C View Fig , 7C View Fig , 8 View Fig , 10A View Fig , 11C View Fig )

Dendroleon caelestis Krivokhatsky 1997: 633 (type locality: ‘ Vietnam: Hashobin: Khoabin: Dabak: Tuli’ = [Hòa Bình: Da Bac: Tuli]; holotype in ZISP). Stange 2004: 91 ( Gatzara ). Ábrahám and Giacomino 2020: 34 ( Gatzara ).

Dendroleon qiongana Yang in Yang and Wang 2002: 296 (type locality: China: Hainan: Ledong County: Jianfengling). Wang et al. 2012: 34 ( Gatzara View in CoL ). Yang et al. 2018 ( Gatzara View in CoL ). Wang et al. 2018: 60 ( Gatzara View in CoL ). Synonymized by Ábrahám and Giacomino 2020: 34.

Diagnosis. Adult: Vertex with a pair of transversal bands and a pair of spots. Pronotum medially with a black stripe, laterally with a pair of short indistinct brownish lines. Forewing rhegma present as a dark brownish spot; cubital area posteriorly broad, with a large round brown marking fused with a continuous arcuate brown marking. Hindwing rhegma present as a dark brown spot that is not fused with markings on distal margin. Male gonocoxites 9 rounded and gonapophyses 11 semicircular in lateral view. Female gonocoxites 8 with posterior branch 2/3 length of anterior branch. 3rd instar larva: Head generally pale brown; mandible equipped with four pseudo-teeth behind tooth; ocular tubercles short; dolichasters and plumose hairs absent. Pro- and mesothorax generally pale yellow while metathorax and abdomen generally green; mesothoracic setiferous processes slightly curved; metathoracic setiferous processes shorter than mesothoracic setiferous processes. Abdominal segments 1–9 each with a pair of dark brown markings mediolaterally in dorsal view; abdominal setiferous processes prominent, with obvious dark brown marking.

Maoerial examined. Adults: 1 male, CHINA: Fujian, Longyan, Xinluo District , Wanan Town [hȐḃ], Mt. Liantaishan [® ÛƜ], 1,000 m, 14.vi.2021, Zheng Zhang ( CAU) ; 1 male, CHINA: Fujian, Nanping, Wuyishan City, Mt. Wuyishan [Ḃ†fl], Wushiyan [ḶƂù], 880 m, 6.ix.2020, Chao Wu ( CAU) ; 1 female, CHINA: Fujian, Nanping, Wuyishan City, Mt. Wuyishan National Park, Tongmu Village, Wushiyan , 870 m, 7.ix.2020, Yuchen Zheng ( CAU) ; 1 male, CHINA: Fujian, Nanping, Wuyishan City, Mt. Wuyishan National Park, National Positioning Observatory for?cosystems [lŝḿṆDZƎŤûŵãü], 600 m, 10.vii.2009, Li Shi % Xiaoyan Liu ( CAU) ; 1female, CHINA: Guangxi, Nanning, Wuming District, Mt. Damingshan [kffiƜ], 23.ix.2013, Xingyue Liu ( CAU) ; 1 female, CHINA: Hainan, Ledong County, Jianfengling National Forest Park [ṱūẆDZƎŭbȓẘ], 4.XII.1981, Longdong Lin (holotype of Dendroleon qiongana Yang in Yang and Wang 2002) ( CAU) ; 1 male, CHINA: Hunan, Chenzhou, Yizhang County, Mt. Mangshan National Forest Park [ẸƜDZƎŭbȓẘ], 523 m, 5.ix.2020, Xulong Chen ( CAU) ; 1 female, CHINA: Jiangxi, Ji-an, Jinggangshan City, Ciping Town, Mt. Jinggangshan [ff ṂƜ], Xingzhou Village [IJmfl], 400 m, 9.X.2012, Xingyue Liu ( CAU) ; 1 male, CHINA: Zhejiang, Wenzhou, Taishun County, Wuyanling National Nature Reserve [ḶùẆDZƎănẍDzñṽ], 650 m, 4.viii.2005, Zhiliang Wang ( CAU). Larva : 1 3rd instar larva, CHINA: Fujian, Sanming, Meilie District , Yangxi Township [ṻêø], Lingzaihou [Ẇữú], 920 m, 8.vii. 2020, Yuchen Zheng ( CAU) .

Disoribuoion. China (Fujian, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang) ; Vietnam (Hoa Binh) .

Ecology. The larvae of this species inhabit rock walls that are sheltered, relatively dry with abundant lichens, with some sand and other detritus ( Fig. 1B,F View Fig ). Like other species of Nepsalus with larval records, the N. caelestis larvae are not pit builders but rather are exposed on the rock wall, with a thin layer of sand and lichen on their head and the margins of their body, and with the dorsal part of their abdomen mostly naked. The larva we observed was stationary when undisturbed, but when it felt threatened, it could walk forward like other dendroleontine larvae. Predatory behavior of the larva was not observed. Additionally, we also found that the larva of N. caelestis coexisted with two dendroleontine larvae of *ullanga florida on the rock wall ( Fig. 1F View Fig , blue arrow).

Remarks. Based on adult characters, N. caelestis appears to be similar to N. decorillus , but it can be distinguished from the latter species by the forewing cubital area with a large round marking fused with a continuous arcuate marking, and the hindwing rhegma not reaching to the markings on the distal margin. In N. decorillus the forewing distal margin is more rounded, the forewing cubital area has a large marking fused with a discontinuous arcuate marking, and the hindwing rhegma reaches the markings on the distal margin. Considering the genital characters, in N. caelestis the male gonocoxites 9 are rounded, the male gonapophyses 11 are semicircular in lateral view, and the female gonapophyses 9 have short anterior setae; while in N. decorillus the male gonocoxites 9 are more protruding, the male gonapophyses 11 are thickly clavate in lateral view, and the female gonocoxites 9 have relatively long anterior setae.

The larvae of N. caelestis morphologically resemble N. jezoensis , but can be distinguished by the presence of mediolateral dark markings on the dorsum of the abdomen mostly rounded, and the abdominal setiferous processes with dark brown marking. In the larvae of N. jezoensis , the abdomen is greener in living individuals, the mediolateral dark markings on dorsum of abdomen are mostly oblique, and the abdominal setiferous processes have fewer markings (see Baba %?dashige 1954: fig. 1; Ikeda and Okui 2017: fig. 4D).

Ábrahám and Giacomino (2020) treated G. qiongana from Hainan Island as a synonym of N. caelestis from Vietnam, which is justified based on our examination of the holotype of G. qiongana ( Wang et al. 2012: fig. 5).

Among the material we examined, there is a specimen from Wuyanling National Nature Reserve, Zhejiang identified as G. decorilla ( N. decorillus in present paper) in Wang et al. (2012, 2018). We consider that it was misidentified, but rather is N. caelestis based on the possession of the diagnostic characters of this species.