Megagonoleon breviplectron Machado, 2020

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 : 194-198

Megagonoleon breviplectron Machado , new species

( Figs. 92 , 95–96 )

http://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ 7145034A-F853-4725-B90E-5F4D62CBF12E

Diagnosis. Forewing, with numerous brown marks; tibial spurs short, about half of T1 length; male paramere with

tip acute in posterior view; female, ectoproct with few cavisetae; female, lateral gonapophysis about as large as ectoproct; female membranous digitiform process absent.

Description. Lengths: forewing: 16–23 mm; hind wing: 15–21 mm.

Head ( Figs. 95 a–b): Labrum pale, set with a line of elongate setae. Clypeus pale, set with some short black setae. Frons almost entirely black, except for ventral area pale; set with some short white setae. Gena pale. Vertex raised; in anterior view pale, with five small rounded black spots on central area; (two lateral spots at each side connected in darker specimens); in dorsal view mostly pale except for a central longitudinal black line, a central transverse sinuous line and two black spots posterolaterally; set with short black setae. Ocular setae absent. Antennae clubbed; very long, about five times longer than pronotum; distance between antennae wider than scape width; all segments dark brown except for few pale marks on scape and ventral margin of few subapical flagellomeres; torular membrane pale; flagellomeres wider than long especially apical ones; all segments set with short black setae. Mandibles pale, with tip black. Maxillary palpi, dark brown except for apical segment pale. Labial palpi pale except for apical segment dark brown; apical palpomere fusiform, palpimacula opening oval-shaped, located medially.

Thorax ( Fig. 95b ): Pronotum slightly wider than long; posterior margin wider than anterior; subapical furrow present; mostly black, but with some pale areas as follows: two lateral rounded spots on posterior margin and two on anterior margin, two curved longitudinal lines laterally; covered with black setae, and few white setae on anterior corners. Mesonotum mostly black except for small pale areas as follows: two rounded spots on prescutum, two rounded lateral spots and two central longitudinal lines on mesoscutum, and posterior margin of scutellum; all segments set with short black setae. Metanotum entirely black except for a central pale area in some specimens, set with short black setae. Pterothoracic pleura entirely black, except for some pale area between sclerites in some specimens; covered with short white setae; Miller’s organ present.

Wings ( Fig. 95c ): Rather narrow with tip acute; anterior Banksian line present in both wings, posterior absent. Longitudinal veins black and white; crossveins mostly black but some white; beset with short black setae. Forewing membrane mostly hyaline but with numerous brown marks around crossveins, subcostal and apical areas, and beneath pterostigma; pterostigma apex white; CuA fork located between RP origin and first fork; three presectoral crossveins, with a veinlet connecting last one and RP in some specimens; subcostal veinlets simple; prefork area slightly wider than posterior area at CuA fork level. Hind wing membrane mostly hyaline, except for large, rounded, brown stigmal and rhegmal spots, and small brown marks on apex; MP fork located between RP origin and first fork; subcostal veinlets simple; one presectoral crossvein.

Legs ( Fig. 95a ): All pairs of legs, femur long (about two times longer than coxa); femur, tibia and tarsi about same size; tibial spurs short, about half of T1 length; T2, T3 and T4 about same size, T1 about twice longer than T2, and T5 slightly longer than T1; claws as long as half of T5 length; coxa, trochanter and femur (mainly profemur) set with short white setae; femur, tibia and tarsi set with short black setae, and scattered long setae on tibia. Proleg sense hair absent; tibia with antennal cleaning setae ventroapically; coxa predominantly black with internal surface pale; trochanter pale; femur mostly brown except for a subapical ring and ventral surface pale; tibia pale with three brown rings, but ventral surface entirely pale in some specimens; tarsi pale with tarsomere tips darker. Mesoleg with same colour pattern of proleg, except for ventral surface of femur entirely brown. Metaleg with femur and tibia slightly longer than other legs; colour pattern similar to other legs, except for tibia entirely pale with tip darker.

Abdomen: Entirely black but with scattered pale marks on tergites of some specimens; covered with short white setae, mainly four basal segments, and short black setae on apical segments.

Male Terminalia ( Figs. 96 a–d): Ectoproct posterior margin rounded; set with elongate black setae. 9 th sternite short, with posterior margin curved as “U” in posterior view; covered with elongate black setae. Gonarcus arched in posterior view; in lateral view broad, with anterior margin larger; in dorsal view with central area less sclerotized. Mediuncus broad with the posterior margin rounded with a short medial concavity. Paramere elongate, in lateral view with anterior area broad and posterior area curving upwards; in posterior view with tip acute.

Female Terminalia ( Figs. 96 e–f): Ectoproct posterior margin rounded and set with thin elongate setae and some elongate cavisetae ventrally. Lateral gonapophyses rounded, about same size as ectoproct, beset with elongate cavisetae. 7 th sternite long with distal margin elongate medially; covered with short black setae. Pregenital plate in ventral view thin with medial region acute. Posterior gonapophyses elongate and thin, covered with long black setae. 9 th tergite ventral margin without membranous digitiform process. Anterior gonapophyses absent. Ventral membrane gonapophyseal plates absent.

Distribution ( Fig. 92 ). Australia: NSW, NT, SA, VIC, WA. Widespread across southern mainland Australia, with an outlier in northern Northern Territory.

Adult activity period. Records for September, and December to April.

Biology. Unknown, larva unknown.

Etymology. brevi- (from Latin brevis, short) + -plectron (from Greek plektron, spur), in reference to the short tibial spurs characteristic of the species. Treated as a compound noun in apposition.

Name-bearing type. Megagonoleon breviplectron : Holotype (by present designation), male, ANIC. AUS- TRALIA: New South Wales: Lake Mungo : 33 o 44’S– 143 o 59’E, 22.feb.1998, C. Reid, pine woodland, at light. Condition: pinned; good; but left mesoleg missing.

Paratypes (5♂, 9♀). AUSTRALIA: New South Wales: Lake Mungo: 33 o 44’S– 143 o 59’E, 22.feb.1998, C. Reid, pine woodland, at light (1♂, ANIC, pinned); Nombinnie Nature Reserve : 18 air km SSE of Mount Hope, 160m, 32.99613 oS– 145.94006 oE ± 70m, 3.i.2013, M.V., Oswald, Diehl & Machado, Oswald #626 (1♂, TAMU, in ETOH) ; Victoria: 44 km E of Hattah , 76m, 34 o 45.3’S– 142 o 40.9’E, 3.ii.2004, M. Moulds & S. Cowan (1♀, AMSA, pinned); 1 mi S of Ouyen, 14.mar.1966, M.S. Upton & J.A. Grant (1♀, ANIC, pinned) ; Western Australia: Goldfields highway: 85 km SSE Wiluna, 27.32886 oS– 120.50593 oE ± 70m, 560m, 26.xii.2012, M.V., Oswald, Diehl & Machado, Oswald #617 (2♂, 3♀, TAMU, 1 female pinned, rest in ETOH); Kalgoorlie : 21.ii.1988, A.J. Graham (1♂, AMSA, pinned); 18 km SE of Leinster, 28:05S–120:51E, 16.i.1989, M.S. & B.J. Moulds (2♀, AMSA, pinned); 7 km NNE of Norseman, 32.09S– 121.49E, 23.Mar.1971, Upton & Mitchell (2♀, ANIC; pinned) .

Additional material examined (19♂, 25♀). AUSTRALIA: New South Wales: 25 km NNW of Barellan , 1.iii.1974, E.D. Edwards (1♀, ANIC) ; Lake Mungo : 33 o 44’S– 143 o 59’E, 22.ii.1998, C. Reid (3♂, ANIC) ; Northern Territory: Illamurta Spring : iii.1993 (1♀, SAMA) ; Southern Australia: Billa Kalina Station : iv.2006 (1♂, SAMA) ; Cortina Station: via Kingston ii.1968 (1♀, SAMA) ; Danggali: Tomahawk Dam , ix.1996 (1♂, SAMA) ; Emu Junc- tion: iv.1994 (2♀, SAMA) ; Gluepot Reserve : ii.2002 (1♂, SAMA) ; 6 mi W of Iron Knob , 16.iii.1968, I.F.B. Com- mon & M.S. Upton (1♀, ANIC) ; Karie : iii.1971 (1♂, SAMA) ; Koonamore Station : ii.1956 (1♀, SAMA) ; Oolarinna : iii.1996 (1♂, 2♀, SAMA) ; Pinkawillinia : late. x.1989, A. Sundholm & J. Bugeja (1♀, AMSA) ; Serpentine Lakes : iv.1994 (4♂, 1♀, SAMA) ; Vokes Hill : iv.1994 (1♂, 1♀, SAMA) ; Yeelanna : (1♀, SAMA) ; Yungo : ii.1956 (1♂, 1♀, SAMA) ; Victoria: Hattah : iii.1971 (2♀, SAMA) ; Western Australia: Carnarvon: Wanberry Station , 22.iv.1955 (1♂, 2♀, MVM) ; Cunderdin : ii.1914 (1♂, ANIC) ; Lake Douglas : 12 km SW of Kalgoorlie, 13.i.1989, M.S. & B.J. Moulds (2♀, AMSA) ; Lake Johnston : iii.1996 (2♀, SAMA) ; Lake Marmion : iii.1996 (2♂, 1♀, SAMA) ; 7 km NNE of Norseman , 32.09S– 121.49E, 23.iii.1971, Upton & Mitchell (1♀, ANIC) ; 8 mi NNW of Nyabing , 2.ii.1953, Mc- Intosh & Calaby (1♀, ANIC) .

Comments. Megagonoleon breviplectron sp. nov. is closely related to M. rebellis sp. nov. Both species share many similarities, particularly in the female terminalia and general body color pattern. But, wing markings and the size of the tibial spurs will easily separate them. Megagonoleon breviplectron was included in Machado et al. (2019) as “ Glenoleon sp.2”, where it was recovered as sister to M. tillyardi , very close to where it was recovered in the current morphological phylogenetic analysis ( Fig. 4 ), as sister to M. tillyardi + M. longidigitus .

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 92. Distribution of Megagonoleon species (part).

FIGURE 95. Megagonoleon breviplectron sp. nov.: a) head, anterior; b) head and thorax, dorsal; c) wings, dorsal.

FIGURE 96. Megagonoleon breviplectron sp. nov.: male: a) terminalia, lateral; b) genitalia lateral; c) genitalia, posterior; d) genitalia, dorsal; female: e) terminalia, lateral; f) 7th sternite and pregenital plate (hidden beneath sternite), ventral. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.