Gnopholeon Stange, 1970

Tavares, Leon Gustavo de Miranda, Marquez-López, Yesenia, Machado, Renato Jose Pires, Martins, Caleb Califre & Contreras-Ramos, Atilano, 2023, Antlions of formerly recognized tribe Gnopholeontini (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae: Brachynemurini) from Peninsula of Baja California, with a new species of Tyttholeon Adams, Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20230044) 67, pp. 1-17 : 3

Gnopholeon Stange, 1970

Figs. 1A, B , 2–7

Gnopholeon Stange, 1970: 148 [Type species: Gnopholeon zapotecus Stange , by original designation].– Penny, 1977: 54 [distribution].– Stange,

1994: 90 [taxonomy, redescription, phylogeny]. – Penny et al., 1997: 85 [distribution]. – Stange, 2004: 249 [taxonomy, types, distribution]. – Machado et al., 2019: 441 [list of genera].

Distribution. USA, Mexico.

Included species. G.barberi ( Currie,1903) , G.delicatulus ( Currie,1903) , G. zapotecus Stange, 1970 (Key to species in Stange (1970)).

Larvae known. G. barberi .

Diagnosis. Adults. Antenna with 25-34 flagellomeres, flagellomere 1 longer than wide; vertex well developed and dorsally projected; frons without setae; ocular rim with or without setae that projects over eye; greatest ocular width about half interocular distance; labial palpi with distal palpomere greatly swollen; pronotum longer than wide or as wide as long; legs short, profemur about 1.5 times longer than procoxa, not swollen; hind leg longer than foreleg which is almost the same size as midleg; profemur with or without clavate setae, if present, then clustered or almost in a row; profemur with or without elongated white bristles; profemural sense hair shorter than profemur length, and mesofemoral sense hair shorter than profemoral sense hair; tibial spurs well developed, at least as long as first three tarsomeres together; pretarsal claws large, slightly shorter than distal tarsomere; basitarsus very short, half the length of distal tarsomere at most; wings narrow; hypostigmatic cell without crossveins; both wings with an apical streak formed by infuscations on hypostigmatic cell and pterostigma; banksian lines absent; hind wing posterior area narrow, with cells delimited by crossveins that are longer than wide; CuA bends to hind margin before MP fork; pilula axillaris small, moderately well developed with setae concentrated toward distal margin of knob; abdomen shorter than wings in rest; male genitalia in folded position when in rest; male ectoproct with or without a postventral lobe, if present shorter than ectoproct height; male genitalia with an arched gonarcus dorsal to the parameres; mediuncus present, narrow, projecting posterodorsally, curved and sclerotized apically, with transversal grooves; parameres free, hinged; paramere plates dorsoventrally short; male ectoproct postventral lobe very short; female ectoproct with or without digging setae; female posterior gonapophysis swollen, thumb-like; lateral gonapophysis not fused; pregenital plate narrow with a median tooth, gonapophyseal plate large, with many long, hairlike setae.

Larvae. In Stange (1994).

Remarks. This genus has a few recognizable characteristics among the Brachynemurini . The enlarged tibial spurs and pretarsal claws, along with the evidently short basitarsus is only seen in Dejuna Navás, 1924 and Peruveleon Miller and Stange, 2011 yet both lack Gnopholeon genitalia general shape. The presence of clavate setae on profemur is also seen in Chaetoleon Banks, 1920 and Peruveleon , but with far less density of setae. The ocular rim setae are also present in Chaetoleon , Peruveleon , and Menkeleon . More importantly, Gnopholeon larval morphology is extremely different from every known Brachynemurini larvae up to date ( Stange, 1994); it is ascalaphid-like with long thoracic and abdominal scoli, the mandible bases are very close together and the head capsule is conspicuously wide ( Stange, 1994).

Stange (1994) discusses the possibility of paraphyly for this genus because of chaetotaxy differences between G. delicatulus and the remaining two species, however an overall reduction of leg setae, tibial spurs and pretarsal claws is present in other Brachynemurini genera, such as Ameromyia Banks, 1913 , Scotoleon Banks, 1913 and Brachynemurus Hagen, 1888 ( Stange, 1970, 1994; Tavares et al., 2023), so monophyly of Gnopholeon has support but should be further tested.

Figures

Figure 1 Live specimens of species comprised in the former Gnopholeontini:A) Gnopholeon barberi (Currie, 1903), by BJ Stacey. B) Gnopholeon delicatulus (Currie, 1903), by CD Martinez. C) Menkeleon bellulus (Banks, 1905), by Sean Werle. D) Tyttholeon puerilis Adams, 1957, by BJ Stacey.

Figure 2 Gnopholeon barberi (Currie, 1903), male specimen. A) habitus, dorsal. B) head, frontal view. C) fore and hind wings. D) head, thorax and legs, lateral view. E) head and prothorax, dorsal view.

Figure 3 Gnopholeon barberi (Currie, 1903), male and female terminalia. A) male terminalia, posterior view.B) male terminalia, posterior view. C) male terminalia, lateral view. D) female terminalia, ventral view. E) female terminalia, lateral view. — Abbreviations: ag: anterior gonapophysis; ds: digging setae; et: ectoproct; etl: ectoproct postventral lobe; go: gonarcus; gp: gonapophyseal plate; lg: lateral gonapophysis; md: mediuncus; pap:paramere plates; pat: paramere tooth; pg: posterior gonapophysis; pgp:pregenital plate; stIX: sternite IX.

Figure 4 Gnopholeon delicatulus (Currie, 1903), female specimen. A) habitus, dorsal view.B) habitus, lateral view.C) head, thorax and legs, lateral view. D) head, frontal view.E) fore and hind wings. F) head and prothorax, dorsal view.

Figure 5 Gnopholeon delicatulus (Currie, 1903), female terminalia. A) ventral view.B) lateral view.— Abbreviations: ag: anterior gonapophysis; ds: digging setae; et: ectoproct; gp: gonapophyseal plate; lg: lateral gonapophysis; pg: posterior gonapophysis; pgp: pregenital plate.

Figure 6 Gnopholeon zapotecus Stange, 1970, male specimen.A) habitus, lateral view. B) head and legs, frontal view.C) fore and hind wings.D) head and prothorax, dorsal view. E) head, thorax and legs, lateral view.

Figure 7 Gnopholeon zapotecus Stange, 1970, female terminalia.A) ventral view.B) lateral view.— Abbreviations:ag: anterior gonapophysis; ds: digging setae; et: ectoproct; gp: gonapophyseal plate; lg: lateral gonapophysis; pg: posterior gonapophysis; pgp:pregenital plate.