Ameropterus scutellaris (Gerstaecker, 1894)

Ardila-Camacho, Adrian, Noriega, Jorge Ari & Acevedo-Ramos, Fernando, 2019, New genera records of split-eyed owlflies (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae: Ascalaphinae) from Colombia, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (Pap. Avulsos Zool., S. Paulo) 59, pp. 1-18 : 6-9

Ameropterus scutellaris (Gerstaecker, 1894) ( Figs. 3 , 4 , 10 )

Colobopterus scutellaris Gerstaecker, 1894 [1893]: 109. Holotype sex unknown. Type locality: Huagamba, Peru (type depository unknown).

Ameropterus scutellaris ( Gerstaecker, 1893) . Penny, 1977: 10.

Colobopterus mexicanus Van der Weele, 1909: 122 . Holotype male. Type locality: unknown (type depository unknown).

Ameropterus mexicanus ( Van der Weele, 1909) . Penny, 1977: 10. New synonym.

Specimens examined: Colombia: Antioquia: San Luís, Río Claro , 05.III.1994 (1 ♀ - MPUJ) ; Boyacá: Santa María , 04°51’40”N, 73°16’04”W, 850 m, 25-IV-2010, A. Penagos, (1 ♀ - CAUD) ; same data but Sendero la Almenara ,

30-IV-2016, 13:00-14:00 hours, 04.87 N- 73.25 W, 1,168 m, D. Lozano (1 ♂ - CAUD) ; same data but Sendero la Almenara , 25-IV-2015, 04.87 N- 73.25 W, 1,168 m, D. Lozano (1 ♂ - CAUD) ; Cundinamarca: Nilo, Cerro Quininí , 04°20’44.1”N, 74°30’43.1”W, 1,413 m, 07-VII-2019, A. Ardila & J. Noriega leg. (1 ♀ - CAUD) ; Valle del Cauca: Restrepo, Campo Alegre , 1,100 m, 10-II-1984, D. Acosta, (1 ♂ - ICN) .

Diagnosis: Antenna dark brown with apical knob elongated, dorsally white, dark brown ventrally. Wings elongated and narrow, hyaline, similar in size and shape, pterostigma varying from pale to dark brown; axillary angle of forewing obtuse; posterior margin of hind wing with basal lobe not developed, and with a slight concavity at the CuA arch level, thus forming a sinuous area. Male genitalia with sternite IX U-shaped in ventral view.

Redescription

Measurements: interocular distance: 2.5-2.8 mm; head width: 4.3-4.5 mm; antenna length: 30.6-31.1 mm; body length: 23 mm; forewing length: 27.0- 28.8 mm; forewing maximum width: 6.9-7.9 mm; hind wing length: 24.2-25.9 mm; hind wing maximum width: 6.3-7.2 mm.

Head: Labrum subrectangular with lateral margins round- ed, brown with fine brown setae; clypeus brown with lateral tufts of long, thin, dark brown setae; frons dark brown with abundant black or dark brown pilosity ( Fig. 3C ); gena dark brown with long, black or dark brown setae, whitish on the lower part of the gena;anterior part of vertex brown with dense tufts of dark brown setae; posterior portion of vertex brown, glabrous; occiput brown, glabrous; scape and pedicel brown with abundant long,interspersed dark brown and black setae; antennal flagellum with 42 flagellomeres including the apical knob, which is composed of nine flagellomeres; basal flagellomeres three or four times as long as wide,light brown, each article with abundant fine,long, dark brown setae and some scattered fine, short setae; remainder flagellomeres six times as long as wide, brown,covered with scattered, fine, short setae;apical club fusiform,white dorsally,dark brown ventrally with lateral, longitudinal whitish stripe ( Fig. 3D ), entire surface with minute dark brown setae. Mandibles brown with amber apex; maxillary palpi light brown ( Fig. 3C ), basal palpomere with long dark brown setae, remainder palpomeres with short, black setae; labial palpi light brown, the first palpomere with thick short setae, except apically with long, black setae, remainder palpomeres with minute, black setae. Compound eyes well developed, with deep median sulcus ( Fig. 3B ), brown in color.

Thorax: Prothorax brown, collar-like, covered with a dense layer of long brown setae. Mesonotum brown, entire surface with a layer of long, brown setae; metanotum brown with posterior region of scutellum light brown, setation as in mesonotum ( Fig. 3B ). Pteropleura brown with abundant light brown pilosity, some small portions on mesopleura with dark brown pilosity; ventral sclerites with dense light brown pilosity.

Legs: Fore coxa elongated, light brown; mid- and hind coxa light brown,all of them covered with abundant light brown pilosity. Trochanter light brown. Fore femur light brown, dorsally with fine long brown setae, ventrally with light brown setae; tibia light brown, dorsally with dark brown infuscations, entire surface with thick, long, dark brown bristles, and fine, short, dark brown setae; tibial spurs light amber, arched, as long as the first three tarsomeres together; tarsi brown, the first fourth with blackish apex, all of them covered with thick, short black setae, fifth tarsomere as long as the first four together. Tarsal claws light amber, shorter than tibial spurs. Mid femur brown,ventral surface with thick,long dark brown bristles, entire surface with minute, pale setae; tibia brown, entire surface with interspersed long and thick, and short and thick dark brown bristles; tibial spurs as in foreleg. Tarsi similar to those of foreleg. Hind femur elongated, brown with scattered, short, dark brown and fine pale setae, a few long dark brown bristles present; tibia light brown with dark brown infuscations, outer surface with short, fine,dark brown setae, inner surface with long, thick,dark brown bristles; tibial spurs elongated, and straight, light amber; tarsi brown, the first four with blackish apex, fifth tarsomere as long as the first four tarsomeres together, all of them covered with short and thick dark brown setae; pretarsal claws elongated, light amber.

Wings: Forewing elongated and narrow, membrane hyaline, venation brown, with minute dark brown setae; axillary angle obtuse ( Fig. 3A ). Costal area narrow, with 31-37 costal crossveins, those of the basal portion forming trapezoidal cells, remainder crossveins forming subquadrate cells. Pterostigma from pale to light brown ( Fig. 3A ), composed of four or five crossveins, apical area beyond pterostigma with three rows of cells. Subcostal space light amber. Area between R vein and MA before of fork of RP from RA with three crossveins.Area between RA and RP apically bent posteriorly below pterostigma, with 18-23 crossveins; RP with five branches. CuA fork located just before the level RP separation from RA. Area between CuA fork and posterior wing margin with six or seven rows of cells; Cu area with seven crossveins; CuP reaching the posterior wing margin at the level of RP origin from RA; area between CuP and posterior wing margin with five crossveins. Hind wing shorter than forewing, elongated and narrow, membrane hyaline, venation brown with minute dark brown setae; posterior wing margin with basal lobe not developed, and with a slight concavity at the CuA arch level, thus forming a sinuous area ( Fig. 3A ). Costal area narrow, slightly widened basally, with 31 or 32 crossveins, those at the basal portion forming trapezoidal cells, subquadrate cells on the basal widening and apex, remainder crossveins forming rectangular cells; pterostigma pale to light brown, composed of four crossveins; area beyond the pterostigma with two or three rows of cells. Area between R vein and MA before RP forking from RA with single crossvein. Area between RA and RP apically bent posteriorly below pterostigma, with 16-19 crossveins. RP with five or six branches. Area between apex of CuA and posterior wing margin with two rows of cells; CuA reaching posterior wing margin beyond the origin of RP from RA level; CuP reaching the wing margin slightly beyond the wing base.

Abdomen: Shorter than forewings, tergite of abdominal segment II dark reddish brown, most of the surface with long black setae, except laterally light brown; tergites of abdominal segments III and IV black suffused with wide, lateral orange areas spots; tergites of abdominal segments V-VIII fuscous, with lateral, elongated, dark brown spot surrounded by a wide orange area on each side; all the tergites covered with short, dark brown setae. Sternite of abdominal segment II dark reddish brown with long, hair-like, light brown setae; remainder sternites dark reddish brown, entire surface covered with short, dark brown setae.

Male genitalia: Ectoproct elongated, ovoid, densely covered with thick, long dark brown bristles, area adjacent to anal tubercle with fine, thin, pale setae ( Fig. 4A ). Tergite IX widened, ovoid, covered with short dark, brown setae. Sternite IX spoon-shaped in lateral view ( Fig. 4A ), apex reaching to slightly before the level of posterior margin of ectoproct; in ventral view elongat- ed, U-shaped, area adjacent to posterior margins with thick, long dark brown bristles, entire surface with short dark brown setae ( Fig. 4B ). Paramere-gonarcus complex blunt in lateral view ( Fig. 4E ); gonarcus well sclerotized, anterior apodeme narrow, arched, lateral lobes slightly expanded, sub-quadrangular in lateral view; posterior apex blunt in dorsal view ( Fig. 4C ); parameres ovoid, pelta membranous ( Fig. 4D ).

Female genitalia: Ectoproct ovoid in lateral view( Fig.4F ), distivalvae trapezoidal, mostly glabrous with a few short and fine setae on the ventral margin ( Figs. 4F, G ); linguella U-shaped in ventral view, semimembranous, covered by two lateral rows of fine and short setae ( Fig. 4G ).

Remarks: Ameropterus scutellaris and other three species, namely A. consors , A. mexicanus , and A. trivialis share a remarkable morphological resemblance. In fact, all of them were synonymized under A. trivialis by Shetlar (1977), although this work was not published, and these nomenclatural acts are not available. The wing venation and shape of the four species is nearly identical, unfortunately, these species are known only from old morphological descriptions, and other morphological traits such as genitalia are unknown ( Van der Weele, 1909). Penny (2002) suggested that A. mexicanus could be synonymized with A. consors due to the scarce morphological differences and because both species have been collected in the same localities in Costa Rica. The range of geographical distribution of three species is largely overlapped, A. consors is known from Panama and Costa Rica, A. mexicanus has been reported from Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica,whereas A. trivialis is known from Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama. For its part, A. scutellaris is known only from Bolivia and Peru ( Van der Weele, 1909). The identification of our specimens was made based on the work of Van der Weele (1909), the examination of specimens deposited in CNIN, CAS, and MCZ. After the comparisons between specimens from Colombia and of A. mexicanus from CNIN and A. scutellaris from MCZ, no differences to separate them were found.We provide the present re-description to facilitate future comparisons and to help in the delimitation of these species. We also examined some photographs of A. consors and A. trivialis from Panama and Costa Rica, respectively, and we found only minor differences in wing shape and venation as well as color pattern of the thorax, although these specimens are also notably similar. A meticulous examination of the genitalia of specimens from different localities and molecular studies are necessary to clarify this problem.

Distribution: Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru.

Figures

Figure 3.Ameropterus scutellaris:(A) wing venation;(B)head and thorax,dorsal;(C) head,frontal;(D)antennal apical club,ventral and dorsalsurfaces,respectively.

Figure 4. Ameropterus scutellaris: (A) male terminalia, lateral; (B) same, ventral; (C) male genitalia, dorsal; (D) same,ventral; (E) same, lateral; (F) female terminalia,lateral;(G) same,ventral.Abbreviations:Male:sVIII,sIX, sternites of abdominal segments VIII and IX;tVIII, tIX, tergites of abdominal segments VIII and IX;ep, ectoproct;ap, apodeme;ga, gonarcus;pa, parameres;plt, pelta;pv, pulvini. Female: sVII, seventh sternite; tVIII, tIX, tergites of abdominal segments VIII and IX; ep, ectoproct;dv, distivalva;id,interdens;lg, linguella.

Figure 10. Collecting records of Ameropterus, Cordulecerus, and Fillus from Colombia.