Franzenia Esben-Petersen, 1929

Machado, Renato Jose Pires & Oswald, John David, 2020, Morphological phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the former antlion subtribe Periclystina (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae: Dendroleontinae), Zootaxa 4796 (1), pp. 1-322 : 57

Franzenia Esben-Petersen, 1929

Type species. Franzenia irrorata Esben-Petersen, 1929 , by original designation. Nomenclatural gender: feminine.

Diagnosis. Legs relatively short; ocular setae present; tibial spurs absent; mesotibia expanded, broader than mesofemur.

Description. Head: Vertex not raised. Ocular setae present. Antennae clubbed and elongate; flagellomeres almost as long as wide at base, apical ones slightly wider than long, all segments set with short black setae. Palpimacula opening oval-shaped, located medially. Thorax: Pronotum longer than wide. Mesonotum with a line of long flattened setae. Miller’s organ absent. Wings: tip acute. Forewing CuA fork located near RP origin; with three presectoral crossveins; posterior area wider than prefork area. Hind wing MP fork located near RP origin; one presectoral crossvein. Male pilula axillaris present. Legs: Femur short, smaller than head width. Tibial spurs absent. Pretarsal claws slightly shorter than half of T5 length. Proleg sense hair shorter than half of femur length. Mesoleg tibia expanded. Male Terminalia: Gonarcus simple, thin, and arched. Female Terminalia: Ectoproct and lateral gonapophyses set with cavisetae; posterior gonapophyses stout, set with long setae; anterior gonapophyses absent; 9 th tergite without membranous digitiform process; pregenital plate reduced.

Distribution ( Fig. 19 ). Australia: NSW*, NT*, QLD, SA*, VIC*, WA*. Known from sparse records across mainland Australia.

Included species (1 sp.). Franzenia irrorata .

Biology. One female deposited at FSCA was reared by Robert B. Miller in 1989 from a larva collected in a tiny tree hole in fine organic matter. This record suggests that, as for many other Dendroleontinae species ( Stange 1976; Stange & Miller 1990), F. irrorata larvae may be found in tree holes, and not in sand.

Etymology. Franzen - (from the surname of Ludvig FRANZEN (1878–1942 +), Swedish-Australian businessman and entomologist) + - ia (from Latin -ia, a commemorative suffix), in recognition of Franzen’s exploratory work on the Australian neuropteran fauna.

Comments. This genus contains only one species, Franzenia irrorata , which is easily distinguished from other Australian antlions by its expanded mesotibia.

Figures

FIGURE 19. Distribution of Franzenia, Fusoleon and Latileon species.