Climaciella rafaeli Calle-Tobón, Ardila-Camacho & Wolff, 2018

Ardila-Camacho, Adrian, Calle-Tobón, Arley, Wolff, Marta & Stange, Lionel A., 2018, New species and new distributional records of Neotropical Mantispidae (Insecta: Neuroptera), Zootaxa 4413 (2), pp. 295-324 : 311-312

Climaciella rafaeli Calle-Tobón, Ardila-Camacho & Wolff , n. sp.

Figs. 7 , 8

Type material. Holotype ♂, Colombia: Antioquia: Puerto Berrío, Alto de las Águilas , Hacienda Manaos , 6°27’10.09’’ N ‒ 74°36’13.74’’ W, 440 m, 6‒7.VII.2013, Wolff-INPA, light trap, 18:00‒19:00 [forewing length, 14.1 mm; hindwing length, 12.3 mm] ( CEUA).

Paratypes. None.

Holotype condition. Good, pinned, apex of left antenna lacking, right wings extended, abdomen dissected and cleared, stored in microvial with glycerin below the specimen.

Diagnosis. Body nearly completely black; prothorax ventrally reddish brown, bent ventrad at midlength in lateral view; pleural sclerites of pterothorax reddish brown at middle, black at the periphery. Wings with anterior half light amber, remainder hyaline. Foreleg with apex of coxa and trochanter reddish brown, femur black with a light reddish-brown stripe at the level of major spine, on inner and outer surfaces. Abdominal tergites 4 and 5 with anterolateral patches of pores, each composed of 10‒15 semicircular pores arranged in two subparallel irregular rows, which merge near dorsal midline on each side; inside of each patch an elongate scar is present. Pseudopenis slightly longer than pesudopenal membrane, spine-like.

Description. Based on a single pinned male

Head. Nearly entirely black ( Fig. 7c ); labrum mainly black, dark reddish brown at margins; Mandibles very dark amber; maxillary palpi black, posterior half of last palpomere reddish brown; labial palpi black, dark reddish brown on the junctions. Postgena light brown ( Fig. 7d ). Scape and pedicel dark reddish brown, flagellum black, composed of 29 articles, nearly two times as wide as long, all densely covered with short and thick black setae. Compound eyes metallic silver.

Thorax. Prothorax 3.3 mm long, striated, bent ventrad at midlength in lateral view, anteriorly expanded in dorsal view, black, ventrally reddish brown ( Figs. 7b, d ). Meso- and metanotum black ( Fig. 7d ), pteropleura with sclerites reddish brown at middle and black at the periphery ( Fig. 7b ); entire surface covered with fine and short clear setae.

Legs. Foreleg with coxa predominantly black, apex light brown, entire surface covered with fine and short clear setae; trochanter reddish brown; femur 4.5 mm long, mainly black with a transverse light reddish brown stripe at the level of major spine on inner and outer surfaces, and area adjacent to row of minor spines ( Figs. 7e, f ); tips of minor spines amber, major spine dark reddish brown; with 24 minor spines; entire surface covered with fine and short setae of the same color as cuticle. Tibia dark reddish brown on inner surface, black on outer surface, completely covered with fine and short dark setae. First tarsomere amber, light brown at apex, remainder tarsomeres together nearly as long as the first one, light brown with fine and short setae of the same color as cuticle. Mid- and hindleg black, tarsi dark reddish brown, tarsal claws amber with three apical teeth; arolium present. All segments densely covered with fine and short light-yellow setae.

Wings. Forewing 14.1 mm long, costal field with eight crossveins; subcostal space with five crossveins. Anterior 1/2 light amber, venation brown ( Fig. 7a ); pterostigma light brown with minute setae. 10 branches arising from RP, four veins arising from rarp1 (first anterior radial cell), and three from rarp 2 and rarp3 (second and third anterior radial cells). Hindwing similar to forewing, 12.3 mm long; costal space with 10 crossveins. Eight branches arising from RP, two from rarp1 (first anterior radial cell), and three from rarp2 and rarp3 (second and third anterior radial cells).

Abdomen. Nearly completely black, covered with fine and short light-yellow setae. Male pregenital abdominal apparatus: tergites 4 and 5 bearing two anterolateral patches of semicircular pores arranged in two subparallel irregular rows, which merge near dorsal midline on each side, with 28 pores on tergite 4, and 22 pores on tergite 5; inside of each patch an elongate scar present. Intertergal membrane between tergites 5 and 6 invaginated, slightly bilobed.

Male genitalia. Ectoproct elongate, ovoid in lateral view covered with long setae, ventromedial lobe lightly sclerotized, dorsoventrally flattened, bearing 35‒40 short and thick spinous setae ( Figs. 8a, d ). Sternite 9 pentagonal, posteromedially produced into a bluntly rounded lobe ( Fig. 8b ). Gonarcus median lobe short and pointed ( Fig. 8h ), nearly as long as mid-length of pseudopenis. Gonocoxites 9 slightly shorter than mediuncus, somewhat straight, subapically widened ( Fig. 8f ). Mediuncus basally rounded, forked at apex, with attenuated projections ( Fig. 8f ). Hypomeres present as a pair of small lateral elliptical sclerites. Pseudopenal membrane broadly triangular, pseudopenis spine-like, as long as pseudopenal membrane ( Figs. 8f ).

Female. Unknown.

Distribution. Colombia (Antioquia).

Etymology. Named after Jose Albertino Rafael, Brazilian Entomologist who collected the holotype together with one of the authors (MW).

Comments. Species very similar to C. obtusa , since both have resembling body color pattern and prothorax shape. They can be separated by the wing color pattern, C. rafaeli has the anterior half of both wings light amber, while C. obtusa presents anterior 3/4 of both wings dark amber, with metallic blue appearance when observed from certain angles. The tip of the antennae is yellow in C. obtusa , but it is black in the new species. Another important difference is the number of pores and morphology of the abdominal pregenital apparatus; C. rafaeli has a few pores irregularly arranged with a transverse elongate scar inside each patch of pores. In contrast, C. obtusa has numerous pores arranged as linear rows, but the scars are absent. The gonocoxites are relatively straight in the apical portion in the new species, but in C. obtusa the gonocoxite apex is laterally projected, forming a rounded lobe. The pseudopenis of C. rafaeli is spine-like, while C. obtusa has the pseudopenis apex truncate to broadly rounded. The shape of the apical fork of the mediuncus is markedly different as well.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Climaciella rafaeli n. sp.: a, fore- and hindwing; b, head and thorax, lateral view; c, head, frontal view; d, head and thorax, dorsal view; e, forefemur, outer surface; f, same, ventrolateral view.

FIGURE 8. Climaciella rafaeli n. sp.: a, male genitalia, dorsolateral view; b, same, ventral view; c, pregenital abdominal apparatus, dorsal; d, e, male genitalia, dorsal view; f, male genitalia, ventral view; g, sternite 9, ventral view; h, gonarcus, ventral view.Abbreviations: g, gonarcus; gcx9, gonocoxite 9; hpm, hipomere; med, mediuncus; po, pores; ppm, pseudopenal membrane; psp, pseudopenis;sc, scar; t3‒t6, thirdto sixth abdominal tergites;vml, ventromedial lobe.Scale bars:0.1 mm,except for c.