Dimares elegans (Perty, 1833)

Petko, Olga, Smith, Paul, Stange, Lionel & Rios, Sergio D., 2016, New antlion records (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) from Paraguay, Insecta Mundi 2016 (487), pp. 1-8 : 2

Dimares elegans form “ elegans ” ( Perty, 1833) ( Fig. 2 )

Myrmeleon elegans Perty 1833: 125 . Holotype female, Brasilia (Munich).

Specimens examined. San Pedro (3): Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca (S23 o 48’43.0 '’ W056 o 17’40.8 '’), CZPLT 1423 A (19 III 2013, Col. V. Pinion) ; CZPLT 2872 (10 II 2013, Col. D. Greves) ; CZPLT 3106 (24 I 2015, Col. O. Petko). All specimens were collected at house lights or a light trap in a transitional area between Cerrado, Cerrado gallery forest and Atlantic Forest at the Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca. Prior to the collection of these specimens an individual of this species was photographed during the day on 17 February 2010 in campo sucio, sandy-soiled Cerrado at the same locality by P. Smith (www.faunaparaguay.com/myrmeleontidae.html, FPMYR003 PH) .

The San Pedro specimens are here tentatively assigned to form “ elegans ” as they differ from the Chaco specimens, (which we assign to the form “lepida” Navás, 1912) most obviously in their less boldlymarked wings. The presence of a thin yellow lateral line along the side of the abdomen, that is present in our specimens from west of the Paraguay River and absent in those from San Pedro, does not appear to be a consistent difference as this line is variably present in examined Argentine and Uruguayan specimens ascribed to lepida, and Bolivian and Brazilian specimens of typical elegans . Stange (1989) considered all Dimares to belong to a single species Dimares elegans , but noted the marked geographic variability and commented that variation may be clinal. More study is warranted to elucidate relationships in this genus. We refrain from making any taxonomic judgments regards the specific status of these forms pending the results of these studies.

Figures

Fig. 2. Dimares elegans form “elegans” (Perty, 1833), female; Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca, San Pedro Department. Photo by Gabor Pozsgai.