Megagonoleon tindalei (New, 1985)

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 : 263-266

Megagonoleon tindalei (New, 1985) , new combination

( Figs. 137–139 )

http://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ B0E2EA07-D61A-471C-9B5A-80B279F1E088

Austrogymnocnemia tindalei New, 1985:19 (OD); New 1996:69 (cat); Stange 2004:100 (cat); Oswald 2018 (cat).

Diagnosis. Forewing and hind wing each with an apical brown line; forewing crossveins brown margined; clypeus with two brown spots; tibial spurs absent; female lateral gonapophysis about same size as ectoproct; female posterior gonapophysis without cavisetae; male mediuncus small, triangular, detached from gonarcus.

Description. Lengths: forewing: 22–26 mm; hind wing: 19–23 mm.

Head ( Figs. 138 a–b): Labrum pale, with a line of elongate setae. Clypeus pale with two lateral brown spots (in some paler specimens the marks are reduced); with few elongate pale setae. Frons with ventral margin pale, but remaining areas dark brown (dorsal margin curved and ventral medially excavated); covered with short white setae. Gena pale. Vertex raised; in anterior view pale with two short transverse dark brown marks laterally and a rounded central dark spot (in some specimens the transverse marks divided medially); in dorsal view mostly pale with two central perpendicular dark brown marks, and four posterior dark rounded spots; covered with short black setae. Ocular setae absent. Antennae clubbed; elongate,> 3x length of pronotum; distance between width; all segments brown with a pale ring on distal margins, except for four to five subapical flagellomeres mostly pale; torular membrane pale; flagellomeres almost as long as wide at base, apical ones much wider than long; all segments set with short black setae, except for scape, pedicel and first flagellomeres, set with white setae. Mandibles pale to brown, with tip black. Palpi, maxillary and labial pale with some irregular brown marks, mainly near palpimacula; apical labial palpomere fusiform, palpimacula opening oval-shaped, located medially.

Thorax ( Fig. 138b ): Pronotum about as wide as long; posterior margin as wide as anterior; subapical furrow present; mostly pale except for some dark brown areas as follows: a broad central line “Y” shaped, two sinuous lines (sometimes connected to the central line anteriorly), and two lateral lines on posterior half; beset with short black setae, long black setae on borders, and some long white setae mainly on anterior margin. Mesonotum colouration mostly dark brown with two pale longitudinal lines around central area (enclosing two thin dark lines at scutum), and two rounded spots near wing bases; covered with short black setae. Metanotum mostly dark brown, except by irregular pale areas, mostly around midline and posterior margin of scutellum, covered with few short black setae. Pterothoracic pleura dark brown; covered with white setae; Miller’s organ present.

Wings ( Fig. 138c ): Rather narrow with tip acute; anterior Banksian line present in both wings, posterior absent; veins mostly dark brown, but some veins intercalated with white spots, beset with short black setae. Male pilula axillaris present. Forewing membrane hyaline but with numerous brown marks as follows: at tip, posterior margin, around crossveins (mainly radial and mediocubital areas), pterostigma, and a longitudinal line surrounding gradate crossveins; tip of pterostigma white; CuA fork located between RP origin and first fork; three presectoral crossveins; subcostal veinlets simple; posterior area slightly narrower than prefork area. Hind wing membrane mostly hyaline except for some brown marks near inferior margin, around crossveins on mediocubital area and small longitudinal line on rhegmal area; pterostigma white; MP fork located between RP origin and first fork, but closer to RP origin; subcostal veinlets simple; one presectoral crossvein.

Legs ( Figs. 138 a–b): All pairs of legs, femur elongate (about twice longer than coxa); tibia, femur, and tarsi about same size; tibial spurs absent; T3 and T4 about same size, T2 slightly longer than T3, T1 slightly longer than T2, and T5 longer than T1; claws about half of T5 length; coxa, trochanter, and femur set with short white setae; femur, tibia and tarsi set with black setae and scattered long black setae; T5 ventrally with two rows of thick, long, black setae. Proleg sense hair absent; tibia with antennal cleaning setae ventroapically; coxa internally pale, externally dark brown, trochanter pale, femur dorsally brown with a subapical spot and ventral surface pale, tibia with three brown marks dorsally and remaining areas pale; tarsi mostly pale with tip dark, mainly at T5. Mesoleg with colour pattern similar to proleg, except for tibia slightly darker. Metaleg with femur and tibia slightly longer than in other legs; colour pattern similar to anterior legs, except for pale tibia with tip and internal surface midline dark brown.

Abdomen: Mostly dark brown with scattered pale marks, mainly on sternites medial area and tergites distal margin; pleura pale. Beset with short white setae, and few black setae on distal segments.

Male Terminalia ( Figs. 139 a–d): Ectoproct posterior margin rounded in lateral view, set with elongate black se- tae. 9 th sternite short, with posterior margin concave in ventral view; beset with elongate black setae. Genitalia with a large ventral membranous sac. Gonarcus simple, arched, with anterior margin broad and curved distoventrally in lateral view. Mediuncus mostly membranous with a small central sclerotized triangle in posterior view. Paramere small, broad with tip acute and curving upwards in lateral view.

Female Terminalia ( Figs. 139 e–f): Ectoproct posterior margin rounded set with thin elongate setae and some cavisetae ventrally. Lateral gonapophyses rounded, about same size as ectoproct, beset with long cavisetae. 7 th sternite elongate, distal margin with a small concavity in ventral view; covered with short black setae. Pregenital plate weakly sclerotized and rounded. Posterior gonapophyses thin, elongate, covered with long black setae. 9 th tergite with a short membranous digitiform process. Anterior gonapophyses absent. Ventral membrane gonapophyseal plates present.

Distribution ( Figs. 137 ). Australia: SA, WA*. Known from sparse records in south-central Australia.

Adult activity period. Records for September, October, December, January, and March.

Biology. Unknown, larva unknown.

Name-bearing type. Austrogymnocnemia tindalei : Holotype (by original designation), female, MVA, examined. Type locality: Australia. From original description: “ Holotype, ♀, no data ( NMV)”. Condition: good; right antenna and mesoleg missing; terminalia dissected.

Additional material examined (8♂, 11♀). AUSTRALIA: South Australia: 12 km WSW of Alawoona , 34:46S–140:22E, 6.i.1996, M.S. & B.J. Moulds (1♀, AMSA) ; Blue Hills Bore : iii.1993 (1♂, SAMA) ; Danggali: Tomahawk Dam ix.1996 (1♀, SAMA) ; Danggali Conservation Park : iii.2001 (1♂, 3♀, SAMA) ; Karoonda : G.E.H. Wright (2♂, 3♀, SAMA) ; Karoonda to Peebinga : G.E.H. Wright (1♂ PT, SAMA) ; Scorpion Springs Conservation Park : 5 km SW of Nanam’s Well, 17.xii.1983 (1♂, 1♀, SAMA) ; Yurgo : i.1956, at light, M.H. Hopgood Mallee (1♀ PT, SAMA) ; Welbourne Hills : 24.x.1953, N.B. Tindale (1♂, 1♀, SAMA) ; Western Australia: Cosmo Newberry Mission : x.1960 (1♂, ANIC) .

Comments. Based on the overall body colouration M. tindalei is similar to M. pentagrammus , but they can be distinguished by the marks on the wings and clypeus, and the form of the male terminalia. 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 137. Distribution of Megagonoleon (part) and Minyleon species.

FIGURE 138. Megagonoleon tindalei: a) head, anterior; b) head and thorax, dorsal; c) wings, dorsal.

FIGURE 139. Megagonoleon tindalei: male: a) terminalia, lateral; b) 9th sternite, ventral; c) genitalia, lateral; d) genitalia, posterior; female: e) terminalia, lateral; f) 7th sternite and pregenital plate, ventral. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.