Austrogymnocnemia tatarnici Machado, 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 : 154-155

Austrogymnocnemia tatarnici Machado , new species

( Figs. 69 , 74–75 )

http://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ F4E9DFC4-5FEA-4EEE-AB30-F8E693C68A54

Diagnosis. Tibial spurs absent; forewing hyaline; hind wing with a large rhegmal mark; male paramere sclerotized.

Description. Lengths: forewing: 22 mm; hind wing: 19 mm.

Head ( Figs. 74 a–b): Labrum pale, set with a line of elongate setae. Clypeus pale, with some elongate black setae. Frons with ventral area pale, remaining areas dark brown; set with few short white setae. Gena pale. Vertex strongly raised; in anterior view pale with a line of five short transverse marks; in dorsal view mostly pale with two central perpendicular dark brown lines; covered with short white setae. Ocular setae absent. Antennae clubbed; elongate, about twice longer than pronotum; distance between antennae about twice scape width; scape and pedicel dark brown; flagellomeres brown with irregular pale marks, except for apical segments mostly pale on anterior surface; torular membrane dark brown; flagellomeres almost as long as wide at base, apical ones much wider than long; all segments set with short black setae. Mandibles pale, with tip black. Palpi, maxillary and labial pale; apical labial palpomere fusiform, palpimacula opening oval-shaped, located medially.

Thorax ( Fig. 74b ): Pronotum about as long as wide; posterior margin as wide as anterior; subapical furrow present; mostly pale with dark brown areas on posterior half (margins and five longitudinal lines, being the central one longer and reaching furrow); two small lateral dark marks in furrow and two brown infuscations near center of anterior area; beset with short pale setae, and few black setae. Mesonotum with prescutum mostly dark brown with two rounded pale spots; scutum mostly dark brown with two longitudinal pale line around midline; scutellum mostly pale except for a central longitudinal dark brown line; all segments covered with short pale setae. Metanotum mostly dark brown except for two longitudinal pale areas on scutum; scutellum mostly pale except for a central dark line; set with short white setae. Pterothoracic pleura dark brown; covered with white setae; Miller’s organ present.

Wings ( Fig. 74c ): Rather narrow with tip acute; anterior Banksian lines present in both wings, posterior absent; veins mostly pale, but with some veins intercalated with brown spots, beset with short black setae. Male pilula axillaris present. Forewing membrane mostly hyaline except for small brown shades around anterior Banksian line and forks near distal margin; pterostigma white; CuA fork located near RP origin; three presectoral crossveins; subcostal veinlets simple; posterior area about the same size of prefork area. Hind wing membrane mostly hyaline except for a broad longitudinal line at the rhegmal area; MP fork located near RP origin; subcostal veinlets simple; one presectoral crossvein.

Legs: All pairs of legs, femur elongate (> 2.5x length of coxa); tibia about as long as femur but longer than tarsi; tibial spurs absent; T2, T3 and T4 about same size but shorter than T1; T5 longer than T1; claws slightly shorter than half of T5 length; coxa, trochanter and femur set with short white setae; dorsal area of femur, tibia and tarsi set with short black setae, and scattered long setae (mainly at tibia). Proleg sense hair absent; tibia with antennal cleaning setae ventroapically; all segments pale except for the darker apex of tibia and tarsomeres, and some brown punctuations. Mesoleg with colour pattern similar to proleg. Metaleg with femur and tibia slightly longer than in other legs; colour pattern similar to mesoleg except for a basal brown mark at tibia, and the absence of the punctuations.

Abdomen: Dark brown except by distal pale marks at central area of sternites; covered with short white setae.

Male Terminalia ( Figs. 75 a–d): Ectoproct posterior margin rounded in lateral view; set with elongate black setae. 9 th sternite in ventral view with anterior margin straight and posterior with central area elongate, set with a line of long black setae medially. Gonarcus broad and arched; in posterior view with medial region thinner than lateral regions. Mediuncus large, with tip acute and curved in lateral view. Paramere large and thin in lateral; in ventral view curved; in posterior view elongate with tip sclerotized.

Female Terminalia: Unknown

Distribution ( Fig. 69 ). Australia: WA* (known only from the holotype).

Adult activity period. Record for September.

Biology. Unknown, larva unknown.

Etymology. tatarnici (from the surname of Dr. Nikolai TATARNIC, Australian entomologist at WAM), in recognition of his role as collector of the holotype and his valuable assistance in providing specimens and digital images of Australian antlions for use in this revision.

Name-bearing type. Austrogymnocnemia tatarnici : Holotype (by present designation), male, WAM, examined. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: Kiwirrkurra IPA: Visitor Center , 22.81979 oS– 127.76564 oE, 430m, 7.ix.2015, N. Tatarnic, [BBKIWI L03]. Condition: pinned, good, abdomen and antennae broken but glued on a white card and pinned below specimen; terminalia dissected; left proleg was removed and used for DNA extraction.

Comments. Austrogymnocnemia tatarnici sp. nov. differs from the other three species of the secula species group in lacking tibial spurs and possessing a well-sclerotized male paramere. Inclusion of this species in the secula group ( Fig. 4 ) is supported by its long and acute male mediuncus, and the general shape of its legs, pronotum and wings. Molecular data also corroborate the placement of A. tatarnici within the secula species group; the species was included in Machado et al. (2019) as “ Austrogymnocnemia sp.2” and was recovered as sister to A. secula . Austrogymnocnemia tatarnici is clearly distinguishable from its congeners and all other species of the Periclystus genus group. The general colour patterns of the wings and pronotum, and the general shape of the male terminalia are unique within the Periclystus genus group, justifying its description based on a single specimen.

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 69. Distribution of Austrogymnocnemia species (part).

FIGURE 74. Austrogymnocnemia tatarnici sp. nov.: a) head, anterior; b) head and thorax, dorsal; c) wings, dorsal.

FIGURE 75. Austrogymnocnemia tatarnici sp. nov.: male: a) terminalia, lateral; b) genitalia, lateral; c) genitalia, posteroventral; d) 9th sternite and genitalia, ventral. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.