Gryposmylus pubicosta Walker

Winterton, Shaun L. & Wang, Yongjie, 2016, Revision of the genus Gryposmylus Krueger, 1913 (Neuroptera, Osmylidae) with a remarkable example of convergence in wing disruptive patterning, ZooKeys 617, pp. 31-45 : 34-37

Taxon classification Animalia Neuroptera Osmylidae

Gryposmylus pubicosta Walker Figs 1, 3A

Chrysopa pubicosta Walker 1860: 183

Gryposmylus pubicosta (Walker) - Krüger 1913: 32; Carpenter 1943: 755 [text figure 1].

Material examined.

Lectotype [sex not determined]. INDIA: “Hindostan” (Natural History Museum, London). Herein designated.

Other material examined.

INDIA: Himchal Pradesh Prov.: male, Kano, S[h]imla, McLachlan Collection, B.M. 1938- 674 (Natural History Museum, London); Uttarakhand Prov.: female, “Masuri” [Mussoorie], 7000 feet, 18.vi.1868, Lang McLachlan Collection, B.M. 1938- 674 (Natural History Museum, London). MALAYSIA: Sabah (Borneo): female, Crocker Range National Park, HQ Station Road, 9.viii.2003, Whiting, Svensen, Bybee (California State Collection of Arthropods); 2 females, Penampang Distr., Crocker Range Gunung Alab, 1660 m, 5°48'47"N 116°20'16"E [5°48.78', 116°20.26'] S. Gaimari, M. Hauser, 16-18.x.2011, ex. Mercury vapour light (California State Collection of Arthropods).

Diagnosis.

Head and body largely yellow with brown reticulated markings; mesoscutum and parts of pleuron white; forewing markings mottled, highly variable; hind wing unmarked except region immediately around pterostigma.

Redescription.

Forewing length: 21-22.0 mm; hind wing length: 16-17.5 mm. Head. Dark yellow with brown and white markings; palpi dark yellow; frons with dark, subtriangular marking below antennal socket, clypeus often with smaller marking laterally; dark genal mark small or large; vertex dark yellow with white area laterally, ocelli pale, surrounded with dark marking medially, dark vertex marking extending posteriorly as dark stripe from lateral ocellus; dark marking on gena along posterior margin of eye; scape dark brown, dark yellow on anterior surface; pedicel dark brown-black; flagellum dark yellow except for black basal three flagellomeres. Thorax. Prothorax dark yellow with black and white markings along lateral margins, setae relatively elongate, especially along lateral edge; mesothorax dark yellow with extensive dark brown-black markings, anteriorly with a dark spot and laterally with radiating pattern of brown streaks, a tuft of elongate dark setae is present anteriorly on the mesoscutum; mesoscutellum black laterally and anteriorly, vivid yellow-white posteriorly; metathorax dark yellow with dark brown spot medially, metascutellum black laterally, yellow-white posteriorly; pleuron dark yellow with broken white stripes; legs dark yellow, setal pale; claws brown. Wings. Rounded, venation brown with elongate setae on all veins on both surfaces of wings; wings hyaline with brown markings; extent of forewing markings highly variable, ranging from few markings to extensive markings in basal half of wing (Fig. 1), consistent markings in forewing of all specimens include: dark markings at base of costal area, at origin of M from R, crossveins 2-3cua-cup, distal crossvein ma-mp and extending along inner gradate series, distal crossveins r-rs and pterostigma; hind wing largely hyaline except for dark markings in pterostigma and distal crossveins r-rs, hind wing venation pale except for wing apex. Abdomen. Pale to dark yellow on all segments with dark brown reticulate pattern on tergites 1-8 and sternites 1-5; pale erect setae sparsely distributed on all segments. Male genitalia. Tergite 8 and sternite 8 quadrangular, sparsely distributed setae on sclerites and intersegmental membrane; tergite 9 relatively narrow, extending ventrally below level of ectoproct; sternite 9 subtriangular, fused partially to gonarcus laterally; ectoproct rounded with thickened area along posterolateral margin, callus cercus relatively large with ca. 45 setae; genitalia typical for subfamily, gonarcus as narrow arch medially, narrow entoprocessus extending posteriorly, curved dorsally and spatulate distally; gonarcus extending anteriorly as non-articulated rod-shaped apodemes (=baculum), gonarcus fused laterally to sternite 9 at junction of entoprocessus and gonarcus anterior apodeme; parameres narrow, arch-shaped with medial thickening; mediuncus curved with paired-flanges, connected membranously to medial arch of gonarcus. Female genitalia. Tergite 8 large and subquadrate, sternite 8 as small and knob-like process, directed posteriorly, adjacent to tergite 9; tergite 9 narrow, extending ventrally to articulate with gonopophysis 9 + gonocoxite 9 (=gonapophysis lateralis); gonopophyses 9 and gonocoxite 9 closely associated; gonocoxite 9 elongate with a dark longitudinal band laterally, distally articulated with a relatively long stylus (=gonostylus 9); ectoproct rounded, callus cercus relatively large; spermathecae folded medially, expanded basally and connecting with a very long coiled spermathecal duct.

Comments.

The specific type locality for this species is listed as “Hindostan” by Walker (1860), which is a common geographic term for the entire northwestern portion of India. The McLachlan collection, now in the Natural History Museum collection, contains multiple specimens of Gryposmylus pubicosta , presumably identified by Walker. Walker (1860) does not indicate that the description is based on a series of specimens, and the measurements provided in the description suggest that it was based on a single specimen. Moreover, at least one specimen in the McLachlan collection was collected in 1868, years after the original description of the species was published. Consequently, we do not consider these additional specimens as part of the syntype series but herein designate a Lectotype to clarify the status of this species.

This species is variable in the extent of body and wing markings, with some species being very pale with few wing markings (Fig. 3A) to others being very dark with extensive wing markings (Fig. 1). The male and female genitalia are very similar between both species in the genus.