Anomaloplectron Esben-Petersen, 1918

Machado, Renato Jose Pires & Oswald, John David, 2020, Morphological phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the former antlion subtribe Periclystina (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae: Dendroleontinae), Zootaxa 4796 (1), pp. 1-322 : 33-34

Anomaloplectron Esben-Petersen, 1918

Type species. Anomaloplectron lineatipenne Esben-Petersen, 1918 , by original designation. Nomenclatural gender: neuter.

Diagnosis. Ocular setae absent; profemur swollen, much wider than tibia; tibial spurs of different relative length on each pair of legs.

Description. Head: Vertex raised. Ocular setae absent. Antennae clubbed and elongate; flagellomeres almost as long as wide at base, apical ones slightly wider than long. Palpimacula opening oval-shaped, located medially. Thorax: Pronotum about as long as wide and set with short setae. Miller’s organ absent. Wings: rather narrow with tip acute. Forewing CuA fork located beyond origin of RP; two presectoral crossveins; subcostal veinlets simple; posterior area larger than prefork area. Hind wing MP fork located beyond the origin of RP; one presectoral crossvein. Male pilula axillaris present. Legs: Proleg short and very stout, especially the swollen femur, much broader than tibia; tarsi and tibia about the same length; tibial spurs reaching T4 apex; sense hair about one half femur length. Mesoleg slightly longer than proleg; femur not enlarged; tibial spurs reaching T2 apex. Metaleg slightly longer than mesoleg; tibial spurs shorter than T1. T5 about as long as T1–T4. Pretarsal claws much shorter than T5 length. Male Terminalia: Ectoproct posterior margin rounded; gonarcus simple, thin and arched. Female Terminalia: Ectoproct and lateral gonapophyses set with cavisetae; posterior gonapophyses elongate; anterior gonapophyses absent; 9 th tergite without membranous digitiform process; pregenital plate reduced.

Distribution ( Fig. 5 ). Australia: QLD, SA, WA. Known from sparse records across mainland Australia.

Included species (1 sp.). Anomaloplectron lineatipenne .

Biology. Unknown.

Etymology. Anomalo - (from Greek anomalos, abnormal or unusual) + - plectron (from Greek plektron, spur or point), in reference to the unusual form of the tibial spurs of its type species.

Comments. This genus contains only one species, Anomaloplectron lineatipenne , which is easily distinguished from other Australian antlions by the different lengths of its tibial spurs, a character that inspired the name of the genus. For phylogenetic relationships see Fig. 4 .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Strict consensus tree of morphology-based parsimony analysis of species belonging to the former subtribe Periclystina (ingroup, names in black), and outgroups (names in red). Former Glenoleon species are shown on blue branches, former Austrogymnocnemia species on green branches. Numbers above branches are Bremer support values; numbers below branches are bootstrap values (shown where>50%).

FIGURE 5. Distribution of Anomaloplectron and Csiroleon species.