Spilosmylus Kolbe, 1897

Winterton, Shaun L., Martins, Caleb Califre, Makarkin, Vladimir, Ardila-Camacho, Adrian & Wang, Yongjie, 2019, Lance lacewings of the world (Neuroptera: Archeosmylidae, Osmylidae, Saucrosmylidae): review of living and fossil genera, Zootaxa 4581 (1), pp. 1-99 : 61-63

Spilosmylus Kolbe, 1897

( Figs 40–42 )

(= Ripidosmylus Krüger, 1913a: 61 . Type species: Osmylus africanus Kolbe, 1897: 33 )

(= Conchylosmylus Krüger, 1914a: 20 . Type species: Spilosmylus aureus Navás, 1912: 187 )

(= Kelidosmylus Krüger, 1914a: 29 . Type species: Ripidosmylus togoensis Krüger, 1913: 78 )

(= Ostreosmylus Krüger, 1914a: 30 . Type species: Osmylus inquinatus McLachlan, 1870: 200 )

(= Grammosmylus Krüger, 1914a: 34 . Type species: Spilosmylus punctatus Navás, 1912: 186 )

(= Stigmatosmylus Krüger, 1914a: 32 . Type species: Stigmatosmylus ocellatus Krüger, 1914a: 32 )

Type species. Osmylus tuberculatus Walker, 1853: 235 (by original designation).

Diagnosis. Ocelli present or absent, sometimes only medial ocellus reduced or absent; wings ovate, posterior margin sometimes straight; wings typically hyaline with sparse patterning especially in FW, sometimes markings more extensive; FW costal area broad basally, subcostal veinlets mostly simple with occasional forked veinlet sometimes present; Sc and RA closely approximately along length in both wings, frequently with intermittent dark banding on veins and across area in between (appearing as dashes along wing); RP with 8–13 branches in both wings, crossveins numerous and semi-regularly arranged basally, more regular distally with outer gradate series distinct from other crossveins while inner gradate series is often not distinct from basal crossveins; FW RP stem relatively short; end-twigging regular and close to wing margin in radial and medial fields of both wings, endtwigging less extensive in cubital fields; FW with only one m-cu crossvein before M fork (rarely more); FW with embossed bulla usually located in CuP field along wing margin (absent in some species), rarely with a second bulla in A1 field; female spermatheca variable, sometimes with a complex of tubular accessory glands.

Comments. Spilosmylus is differentiated from Thaumatosmylus and Thyridosmylus by the presence in the forewing of an embossed spot along the posterior margin, dash-like bands in the Sc-RA area and only a single m-cu crossvein basally, although there are exceptions to these characters in some species (e.g., S. gressitti ). Krüger (1913 – 1915) erected multiple genera in Spilosmylinae to accommodate the numerous species based on spurious wing venation features, which Kimmins (1942) subsequently synonymised with Spilosmylus (although also including Lysmus ). We follow this more conservative classification of the extant Spilosmylinae and provide revised diagnoses of Spilosmylus , Thaumatosmylus and Thyridosmylus . Placement of species in each genus remains tentative though, as we have not examined representatives and types from all. A thorough revision of Spilosmylus relative to Thaumatosmylus and Thyridosmylus is needed to determine the generic limits and thus confirm placement of species in each.

Figures

FIGURE 40. Spilosmylinae. Spilosmylus arishensis New.

FIGURE 41. Spilosmylinae. A. Spilosmylus spilopteryx Badano & Winterton, wings; B. S. tephrodestigma Badano & Winterton, wings (from Badano & Winterton, 2017).

FIGURE 42. Spilosmylinae. Spilosmylus sp., wing venation (trichosors and vestiture omitted).