Paranthaclisis Banks 1907: 275

Stange, Lionel A. & Miller, Robert B., 2012, Description of a new species of Paranthaclisis Banks from Florida (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae), Insecta Mundi 2012 (224), pp. 1-5 : 1-2

Paranthaclisis Banks 1907: 275

Type species: Acanthaclisis congener Hagen , by subsequent designation of Banks 1927: 80 as “ P. congener (Hagen) ”.

Key to species: Banks 1927: 80, Banks 1939: 5.

Distribution: Mexico (Baja California); U.S.A. (Arizona; California; Florida; Nevada; New Mexico; Oregon; Texas; Utah).

Further description: Banks 1927: 79; Stange and Miller 1985: 36.

Larva: Hagen 1887: 151; Stange and Miller 1985: 36, Figures 1, 6 (larva).

Further description: Banks 1927: 79.

Diagnosis. Adult: ocular rim with short white setae that project over eye; distal palpomere with elongate palpomacula not reaching to apex; pronotum wider than long; all femora with one elongate sense hair; pretarsal claws strongly bent with flange, shorter than tibial spurs which are bent at nearly a right angle; forewing costal area narrowing toward apex, usually simple (except in P. floridensis ); forewing with anterior Banksian line; hindwing vein CuA not fused with posterior fork of MP2; abdomen with pair of eversible sacs between tergites VI and VII (except P. nevadensis ). Larva: head capsule with anterior margin of clypeo-labrum weakly sinuate; ventral surface of head capsule nearly glabrous; length of antenna shorter than basal width of mandible; mandible with one blunt tooth; hind pretarsal claws very thick, less than twice as long as basal width, shorter than mid-pretarsal claws which are several times longer than wide; mid-tarsus longer than mid-tibia and nearly as wide basally as tibia apically; sternite VII with many short, peg-like digging setae, area of digging setae more than five times longer than wide.

Biology. Female Paranthaclisis congener were observed ( Stange and Miller, 1985) to lay eggs at dusk near Reno, Nevada. As the female expels the eggs, she evenly coats them with sand, using the posterior gonapophysis. The eggs are buried up to one quarter or more of the abdominal length and the larval head capsule is fully hardened prior to hatching, in contrast to other known non-acanthaclisine ant-lions which lay their eggs on the surface and in which the larva hatches on the surface with the head capsule and mandibles soft, having been folded into the egg, and ready to expand upon being freed of the egg and exposed on the surface. Eggs of Acanthaclisini are laid in batches of twenty and hatch in about 24 days. There are three instars. The larvae prefer deep sand and can move both forward and backward rapidly but observations to date indicate that the larvae do not pursue prey on the sand but rather dig rapidly backward after the prey and grab the prey by whipping their head backward after they are underneath it. Prey observed to date have been lepidopterous larvae and many types of sand roaming adult Coleoptera.

Discussion. Paranthaclisis Banks is a Nearctic genus which contains four species. The hindwing venation of Paranthaclisis is distinctive in the tribe since CuA does not unite with MP 2 as in other genera. The larva is also very distinctive in having only one mandibular tooth. Paranthaclisis nevadensis Banks lacks eversible sacs on the abdomen of the male. This strictly Nearctic genus Paranthaclisis belongs to the tribe Acanthaclisini of the subfamily Myrmeleontinae and is restricted in distribution to the temperate areas of North America. The Acanthaclisini is characterized by the presence of eversible sacs between abdominal segments VI and VII. Paranthaclisis nevadensis is aberrant in lacking abdominal pencils in the male. Also, the tibial spurs and pretarsal claws of the Acanthaclisini are thick and strongly curved or sometimes bent as in Paranthaclisis . Some genera including Paranthaclisis have an elongate sense hair on the hindfemur. The larva of Paranthaclisis is unusual in having a short, thick mandible with only one mandibular tooth. A generic review of the tribe with keys to genera based on both adults and larvae was provided by Stange and Miller 1985.