Megagonoleon oombulgurriensis 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 : 226-229

Megagonoleon oombulgurriensis Machado , new species

( Figs. 110 , 115–116 )

http://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ DC41BB5B-7CEF-4869-9712-A3F10746EB4C

Diagnosis. Forewing hyaline; hind wing rhegmal region with a longitudinal line; female anterior gonapophysis a small plate; male mediuncus sclerotized; male parameres fused.

Description. Lengths: forewing: 25–29 mm; hind wing: 22–26 mm.

Head ( Figs. 115 a–b): Labrum pale; with a line of elongate setae. Clypeus pale; with few elongate black setae. Frons predominantly pale with irregular brown marks, mainly surrounding antennae; set with short black setae. Gena pale. Vertex raised, in anterior view pale with five brown spots placed transversely on center; in dorsal view pale with a large brown spot located medially on posterior margin (spot connected to a thin central longitudinal line in most specimens), some specimens with a transverse central brown line (interrupted with pale areas in some specimens); covered with short black setae. Ocular setae absent. Antennae clubbed; elongate,> 3x length of pronotum; distance between width; scape and pedicel mostly pale but with numerous irregular brown marks, flagellomeres basal half brown, apical half pale, generally flagellomeres darken towards antennal apex; torular membrane pale; 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, with a small brown mark on basal segments; apical labial palpomere fusiform, palpimacula opening oval-shaped, located medially.

Thorax ( Fig. 115b ): Pronotum about as long as wide; posterior margin as wide as anterior; subapical furrow present; mostly pale except for a central longitudinal line “Y” shaped, two lateral brown spots on posterior area and other two on anterior area; beset with short white setae and some long white setae on borders, mainly on anterior corners. Pterothorax notum pale with a central longitudinal brown line, and a small lateral line at each side of prescutum; covered with short white setae. Pterothoracic pleura pale but with numerous small brown spots; covered with short white setae; Miller’s organ present.

Wings ( Fig. 115c ): Rather narrow with tip acute; anterior Banksian line 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 hyaline but with tiny brown marks around marginal forks, and tip of hypostigmatic cell; CuA fork located between RP origin and first fork; three presectoral crossveins; subcostal veinlets simple; prefork area slightly wider than posterior area at CuA fork level. Hind wing membrane hyaline except for a brown longitudinal line at rhegmal area; MP fork located between RP origin and first fork; subcostal veinlets simple; one presectoral crossvein.

Legs: ( Figs. 115 a–b) All pairs of legs, femur elongate (> 2.5x length of coxa) tibia, femur and tarsi about same size; tibial spurs absent; T3 and T4 about same size, T2 slightly longer than T3, T1 and T5 about same size, but longer than T2; claws about half of T5 length; coxa covered with short white setae; trochanter set with short black setae; femur with short white setae on ventral surface and black short setae on dorsal surface, basal area with few elongate white setae and long black setae on apical area; tibia and tarsi covered white short black setae, with few long black setae on tibia; T5 ventrally with two rows of thick, black setae. All segments pale except for few irregular brown marks on coxa. Proleg sense hair absent; tibia with antennal cleaning setae ventroapically. Metaleg with femur and tibia slightly longer than in other legs.

Abdomen: Tergites pale, except for a sagittal brown line (connected to thoracic line). Sternites brown but with numerous irregular pale areas (some specimens with larger pale areas). All segments covered with short white setae (some specimens, few tergites with some short black setae).

Male Terminalia ( Figs. 116 a–c): Ectoproct posterior margin rounded in lateral view, set with elongate black setae. 9 th sternite large, with posterior margin straight in ventral view; set with elongate black setae. Gonarcus broad and arched in lateral view; anterior area wider than basal, curved and acute. Mediuncus broad, long, with tip rounded in posterior view; but sinuous and acute in lateral view. Paramere more sclerotized than other structures; vertically elongate in lateral view; broad and medially fused in posterior view.

Female Terminalia ( Figs. 116 d–e): Ectoproct rounded, covered with long black setae and some cavisetae ventrally. Lateral gonapophyses rounded, about same size as ectoproct, cavisetae numerous. 7 th sternite long, with a curved concavity at distal margin in ventral view; covered with short black setae. Pregenital plate in ventral view, transversely elongate, lateral margins acute, anterior margin arcuate, posterior margin biconcave with a posteriorly directed medial lobe between the concavities. Posterior gonapophyses long and narrow, apex rounded and covered with long black setae. 9 th tergite without digitiform process. Anterior gonapophysis a small rounded plate covered with many black setae. Ventral membrane gonapophyseal plates present.

Distribution ( Fig. 110 ). Australia: WA. Known only from the type series from the Kimberly region of northeastern Western Australia.

Adult activity period. Records for July and August; perhaps a northern winter emerging species.

Biology. Unknown, larva unknown.

Etymology. oombulgurri- (from Oombulgurri [=Forest River Mission], a locality in northeastern Western Australia) + - ensis (from Latin -ensis, a suffix denoting place or locality), in reference to the species’ type locality.

Name-bearing type. Megagonoleon oombulgurriensis : Holotype (by present designation), male, MVM. AUS- TRALIA: Western Australia: Forrest River Mission, 20.8.[19]53, KJC // collection A. N. Burns // NEU-2029. Condition: good; tip of antennae and right proleg missing, left forewing with apex slightly damaged.

Paratypes (1♂, 7♀). Same location and collector as holotype: 20.8. [19]53, NEU—2030 (1♀ MVM, pinned); 20.8. [19]53, NEU-2028 (1♀ MVM, pinned); 2.8. [19]53, NEU-2025 (1♀ MVM, pinned); 20.8. [19]53, NEU-2024 (1♀ MVM, pinned); 10.7. [19]53, NEU-2026 (1♀ MVM, pinned); 10.7. [19]53, NEU-2027 (1♂ MVM, pinned); 20.7. [19]53, NEU-2031 (1♀ MVM, pinned); July 1954, NEU-2032 (1♀ MVM, pinned) .

Comments. Megagonoleon oombulgurriensis sp. nov. is one of the most distinctive species in the genus. The female anterior gonapophysis is present as a small plate, and the male mediuncus is heavily sclerotized. The overall shape of the female terminalia and the absence of tibial spurs place this species within the pentagrammus species group. The vertically elongate male paramere suggests a close association with M. cardaleae and M. sarahae , which are two other species with relatively weakly marked wings. 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 110. Distribution of Megagonoleon species (part).

FIGURE 115. Megagonoleon oombulgurriensis sp. nov.: a) head, anterior; b) head and thorax, dorsal; c) wings, dorsal.

FIGURE 116. Megagonoleon oombulgurriensis sp. nov.: male: a) terminalia, lateral; b) genitalia, lateral; c) genitalia, posterior; female: d) terminalia, lateral; e) terminalia, ventral. Scale bars = 1mm.