Nyctiophylax Brauer

Oláh, János & Johanson, Kjell Arne, 2010, Generic review of Polycentropodidae with description of 32 new species and 19 new species records from the Oriental, Australian and Afrotropical Biogeographical Regions 2435, Zootaxa 2435 (1), pp. 1-63 : 40-41

Nyctiophylax Brauer

Nyctiophylax Brauer, 1865: 419 .

Type species: Nyctiophylax sinensis Brauer , monotypic.

† Nyctiophylacodes Ulmer, 1912: 172 , new synonym.

Type species: Nyctiophylacodes curtula Ulmer , monotypic. Diagnosis: Ulmer (1912) described Nyctiophylacodes from Baltic Amber and stated that it was separate from Nyctiophylax by having a unique hind wing venation: (1) Subcosta (Sc) with a short fork; (2) a large discoidal cell; and (3) Radius (R1) ending in discoidal cell. However, there are several extant species in Nyctiophylax with large hind wing discoidal cell and a Radius ending in the discoidal cell. Frequently, especially in species with subcosta being hypertrophied and/or the Radius ending in the discoidal cell, there is a poorly discernible short fork at the end of the subcosta in the pterostigmal area.

The spur formula is 3,4,4. Maxillary palps each have 2 basal segments subequal in size and much shorter than segment 3; and their 3rd segment originates nearly at the apex on the lateral face of segment 2. The discoidal cell in each forewing and hind wing is closed, and the forewing median cell is closed. There are some species with open median cells in the forewings in the subgenus Nyctiophylax (Paranyctiophylax) , i.e. N. (P.) rhamphodes Neboiss 1994 , N. (P.) traunensis Neboiss 1994 and N. (P.) synorius Neboiss 1994 . The forewings each have apical forks 2, 3, 4, and 5 present, and the hind wings each have apical forks 2 and 5 present. The gonopods are mostly slender and/or bilobed, seldom robust.

Neboiss (1993) re-defined the genera Nyctiophylax and Paranyctiophylax Tsuda, 1942 and transferred all Nyctiophylax species with looped anal veins in the forewings to the genus Paranyctiophylax . Paranyctiophylax was lowered to subgeneric status by Malicky (1994). The genus Nyctiophylax is well represented in Baltic Amber, and distributed in all faunal regions.