Austrogymnocnemia falsa ( Walker, 1853 ) Machado & Oswald, 2020

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 : 110-114

Austrogymnocnemia falsa ( Walker, 1853) , new combination

( Figs. 42 , 47–48 )

http://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ A9DFBF1B-2C09-4F04-BEB8-D354022AE222

Myrmeleon falsus Walker, 1853:393 (OD); Gerstaecker 1885b:114 (cit).

Glenurus falsus (Walker) : Hagen 1866:405 (ncb); Froggatt 1902:361 (rd).

Glenoleon falsus (Walker) : Banks 1913:224 (ncb) [mentioned as equal to G. meteoricus ]; Navás 1914:470 (cit); Esben-Petersen 1915:73 (key) [as “ falsum ”]; Esben-Petersen 1923:586 (cit); Tillyard 1926:323 (cit, im); Handschin 1935:690 (cit); Stange 1976:305 (cat); New 1985b:34 (key, rd, ill); New 1992:44 (cit., ill); New 1996:82 (cat); Stange 2004:104 (cat); Oswald 2018 (cat).

Diagnosis. Forewing narrow, without a continuous longitudinal brown line; hind wing with a broad trasverse brown band; pronotum entirely black; tibial spurs long; female posterior gonapophysis with cavisetae; male 9 th sternite straight.

Description. Lengths: forewing: 27–35 mm; hind wing: 25–31 mm.

Head ( Figs. 47 a–b): Labrum pale; set with a line of elongate setae. Clypeus pale; with elongate white setae. Frons black, except for ventrolateral corners; beset with small white setae. Gena pale. Vertex raised; in anterior view with a pale transverse line, some specimens with a small black spot medially; in dorsal view black; set with short black setae. Ocular setae absent. Antennae clubbed; elongate,> 2x length of pronotum; distance between antennae wider than scape width; black, except for a small apical yellow ring on basal flagellomeres; torular membrane yellow; flagellomeres almost as long as wide at base, but apical ones much wider than long; all segments set with short black setae. Mandibles pale to light brown, darker at tip. Palpi, maxillary and labial pale to light brown with dorsal surface and distal segments generally darker, apical labial palpomere fusiform, palpimacula opening oval-shaped, located medially.

Thorax ( Fig. 47b ): Pronotum about as long as wide; posterior margin as wide as anterior; subapical furrow pres- ent in some specimens; black; set with short black setae and long setae located medially and on margins; ventrally with some elongate white setae. Pterothorax black; with many short and long black setae, mostly located on mesoprescutum. Pterothoracic pleura black, set with elongate white and black setae, Miller’s organ present.

Wings ( Fig. 47c ): Rather narrow with tip acute; anterior Banksian line present in both wings, but posterior only distinguishable in forewing of some specimens; veins set with short black setae, in general brown, except for some specimens with main longitudinal veins intercalated by numerous short white regions. Male pilula axillaris present. Forewing membrane almost hyaline (slightly darker than hind wing) with brown marks generally concentrated on posterior margin, tip, pterostigma, subcostal area, and mediocubital cells; mediocubital area with cells much longer than wide; CuA fork located near RP origin; three to five presectoral crossveins (irregularly forked and linked in some specimens); subcostal veinlets simple, but a few forked in some specimens; posterior area narrower than prefork area. Hind wing membrane mostly hyaline except for a large brown subapical band; MP fork located near RP origin; subcostal veinlets simple; one presectoral crossvein, with a medial spur.

Legs: All pairs of legs, femur elongate (> 2.5x length of coxa); tibia about same size of femur but slightly longer than tarsi; tibial spurs long, reaching T1 apex; T2, T3 and T4 about same size, T1 about twice as long as T2, T5 little longer than T1; claws about half of T5 length; coxa, trochanter, and femur set with short and few long white setae; femur, tibia and tarsi set with short black setae, and scattered long black setae; T5 ventrally with two rows of thick, long, black setae. Proleg femur generally slightly thicker than in other legs; sense hair longer than femur width; tibia with antennal cleaning setae ventroapically; all segments black, except for trochanter and femur ventral surface, pale. Mesoleg with same colour pattern of proleg, but femur ventral pale area generally larger. Metaleg with femur, tibia and T1 slightly longer than in other legs; colour pattern similar to mesoleg, except for T1 basally and most part of tibia, pale.

Abdomen: Usually entirely black, but some specimens present irregular pale spots on sternites.

Male Terminalia ( Figs. 48 a–c): Ectoproct posterior margin rounded in lateral view, set with elongate black setae. 9 th sternite in ventral view, with posterior margin with a shallow medial concavity; set with elongate black setae. Gonarcus broad posteriorly but with anterior margin acute in lateral view. Mediuncus small, with tip rounded in posterior view. Paramere elongate with tip sclerotized and partially folded in posterior view.

Female Terminalia ( Figs. 48 d–e): Ectoproct posterior margin rounded set with long black setae. Lateral gonapophyses rounded, shorter than ectoproct; set with some cavisetae. 7 th sternite with distal margin straight and covered with elongate black setae in ventral view. Pregenital plate elliptic with a medial sclerotized triangle on posterior margin. Posterior gonapophyses broad, elongate, set with long black setae and elongate cavisetae apically. 9 th tergite with a short membranous digitiform process. Anterior gonapophyses reduced to a small rounded plate covered with black setae. Ventral membrane gonapophyseal plates present.

Distribution ( Fig. 42 ). Australia: NSW, QLD, TAS, VIC, WA; Solomon Islands *. Known from numerous records in southeastern Australia (including Tasmania), with an outlier in southern Western Australia. Although the Solomon Islands record seems doubtful, its plausibility is increased by the knowledge that the specimen was collected and identified by W. Froggatt, who is known to have collected many insects in that area during the same time period. Interestingly, A. falsa is one of the few Periclystus -genus-group Dendroleontini species known from records extralimital to mainland Australia (e.g., Tasmania). The Solomon Islands record, however, is considerably more distant and that record may be unnatural (perhaps an introduction, or a mislabelling). Additional collecting effort is needed in the Solomons to confirm this record and to address the question of its origin in more detail.

Adult activity period. Records for August to May.

Biology. Unknown, larva unknown.

Name-bearing type. Myrmeleon falsus : Lectotype (by subsequent designation by New 1985b), male, BMNH, high-resolution images examined. Type locality: Australia, New South Wales. From original description: “a. New South Wales. Presented by J. W. Evans, Esq. / b. Port Stephen, New Holland. Presented by the Earl of Derby”. From New (1985b): “ Holotype ♂, paratype ♀, of Myrmeleon falsus Walker (BMNH) (seen)”. From New (1996): “Type data: holotype BMNH ♂, paratype BMNH ♀. / Type locality: unknown”. From Stange (2004): “Male, female, syn- types, no data (BMNH)”.

In the original description Walker (1853) explicity cited two specimens in the type series, but no holotype was fixed. We interpret New’s (1985b:34) citation of these two specimens as the “ holotype ♂ ” (Walker’s specimen “a”, a male) and “ paratype ♀ ” (Walker’s specimen “b”, a female) to be sufficiently explicity as to constitute a valid lectotype designation of the male under Art. 74.5; consequently, the female specimen is a paralectotype. Lectotype condition: good; left antennae and proleg missing.

Additional material examined (38 ♂, 61 ♀). AUSTRALIA: ACT: Black Mountain : 6.ii.1930, J.W. Evans (1♀, ANIC) ; Campbell : 18.xii.1987, JB & Ginward (1♂, 1♀, BMNH) ; ii–iii.1967, light trap (1♀, ANIC) ; Canberra : ii.1910 (2♀, ANIC) ; xii.1928 (1♀, ANIC) ; 30.iii.1931 (1♀, ANIC) ; 15.ii.1944 (1♀, ANIC) ; 21.iii.1948 (1♂, ANIC) ; 5.xii.1949 (2♀, ANIC) ; 4.ii.1957 (5♀, 1♂, ANIC) ; 5.ii.1960 (1♂, ANIC) ; 7.iii.1960, E. F. Riek (1♂, ANIC) ; 12.i.1961 (1♀, ANIC) ; 13.ii.1962 (2♀, ANIC) ; 30.i.1970 (1♂, ANIC) ; 19.iii.1970 (1♀, ANIC) ; 20.i.1961, Ex—Acacia, K.G. Swenson (1♀, OSU) ; 25.xii.1962, E. Shipp (1♀, AMSA) ; 12.ii.1980 (1♂, ANIC) ; 5.i.81, D. Ferguson (1♀, BMNH) ; 30.xii.1964 (1♀, MVM) ; Yass : 6.ii.1930, K. English (1♂, ANIC) ; New South Wales: Armidale : 30.ix.1966 (1♀, ANIC) ; 8.ii.1960 (1♂, ANIC) ; 26.i.1967 (1♀, ANIC) ; 28.xi.1960 (1♀, ANIC) ; Blackheath : 6.xii.1946 (1♀, MVM) ; Blue Mountains: Hazelbrook , i.1985, light, M. Dingley (1♂, 1♀, AMSA) ; ii.1985 (1♂, AMSA) ; 20.viii.1901, Froggatt (1♂, ANIC) ; Bombala : ii.30, Rev. A. J. Barrett (2♀, AMSA) ; Enfield : 31.xii.1908 (1♀, AMSA) ; Goulburn : 20.ii.1970 (1♀, ANIC) ; Hornsby : ii.10 (1♀, AMSA) ; 4.i.1917 (1♀, ANIC) ; Jervis Bay : 1.ii.1936 (1♀, ANIC) ; Leura : 27.iii.1917 (1♀, ANIC) ; Merimbula : 21.i.1960, K.R. Norris (1♂, ANIC) ; Mount Kosciusko : 25.i.1914 (1♂, ANIC) ; Nimmitabel : 12.ii.1963, D. McMichael (1♂, AMSA) ; Richmond : 24.ii.1980, N.W. Rodd (1♂, AMSA) ; Roseville : 16.i.04 (1♂, AMSA) ; 25.i.04 (1♂, AMSA) ; Sydney : (1♂, AMSA) ; 10.ii.1912 (1♂, ANIC) ; xii.1946 (1♀, MVM) ; Museum grounds, 13.ix.07 (1♂, AMSA) ; Burwood , ii.1928, Miss Sanders (1♂, AMSA) ; Queensland: Brisbane : (1♂, 2♀, QMBA) ; Clermont : 29.ii.20, E. J.D. (1♀, QMBA) ; Northgate : 13.i.38, J.A. Beck (1♀, QMBA) ; Stanthorpe : 19.i.1926 (1♂, QMBA) ; South Australia: Adelaide: (1♀, SAMA) ; 8.i.1910 (1♂, SAMA) ; iii.1936 (1♀, SAMA) ; Belair : 5.iii.1982 (1♀, SAMA) ; Blakis Station : 25.i.1892 (1♀, SAMA) ; Black- wood: ii.1966 (1♂, SAMA) ; Brookfield Conservation Park : 34.21S– 139.29E, iii–iv.1992 (1♀, ANIC) ; Georgetown : (1♂, SAMA) ; Kangaroo Island: Birchmore Lagoon 15m from Kingscote, E. Troughton (1♀, AMSA) ; Tasmania: Launceston : iii.1943, S. Bowring (1♀, AMSA); (2♂, SAMA) ; Victoria: 20.xii.1902 (1♀, ANIC) ; Balwyn : 17.ii.1912 (1♀, MVM) ; Giffard : i.1951 (1♀, MVM) ; Greensborough : 3.i.1949 (1♂, MVM) ; Kew: Peel station , 14.ii.1911 (1♀, MVM) ; Kinglake : 2.xii.1945 (1♂, MVM) ; Melbourne : 28.ii.1909 (1♀, MVM) ; 21.ii.1929 (2♂, MVM) ; ii.1933 (1♀, MVM); (1♂, SAMA) ; Murrumbeena : 19.ii.1901 (1♀, MVM) ; Ringwood : 4.xii.1927 (1♀, MVM) ; Seaford : 22.ii.1953 (1♀, MVM) ; Stawell : 19.v.1895 (1♂, MVM) ; SOLOMON ISLANDS: iv.1913, Coll & Det. W.W. Froggatt (1♀, ANIC) ; Location not recognized: Saunder’s Coll., iii.68 (1♀, BMNH) ; No label: (1♂, ANIC; 1♂, SAMA; 2♀, MVM) .

Comments. Austrogymnocnemia falsa is relatively easy to distinguish by its dark colouration and the singular brown band on its hind wing. For phylogenetic relationships see Fig. 4 .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Strict consensus tree of morphology-based parsimony analysis of species belonging to the former subtribe Periclystina (ingroup, names in black), and outgroups (names in red). Former Glenoleon species are shown on blue branches, former Austrogymnocnemia species on green branches. Numbers above branches are Bremer support values; numbers below branches are bootstrap values (shown where>50%).

FIGURE 42. Distribution of Austrogymnocnemia species (part).

FIGURE 47. Austrogymnocnemia falsa: a) head, anterior; b) head and thorax, dorsal; c) wings, dorsal.

FIGURE 48. Austrogymnocnemia falsa: male: a) terminalia, lateral; b) genitalia, lateral; c) genitalia, posterior; female: d) terminalia, lateral; e) 7th sternite and pregenital plate, ventral. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.