Tyttholeon froehlichi Tavares, Marquez, and Contreras, 2023

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 : 12-13

Tyttholeon froehlichi Tavares, Marquez, and Contreras , new species

Figs. 10–11

Diagnosis. Clypeolabrum height less than half the eye width; wings narrow; hindleg basitarsus longer than distal tarsomere; male ectoproct with very short postventral lobes; gonarcus slightly twisted on lateral margins; paramere teeth basally not expanded; paramere teeth broad, short, oblong, straight and pointing posterodorsally, very proximad to paramere plates.

Description. Adult. Head: Antennae clubbed with 22 flagellomeres. Scape and pedicel dark brown. Flagellum dark brown, except for flagellomeres IX-XI and XV-XVI which are pale brown. Vertex well raised, pale, with a longitudinal dark brown band, dark brown transversal lines on anterior and middle rows, and four dark brown spots on posterior row, with two small grey spots between each dark brown spot on each side of posterior row. Vertex with a few scattered dark decumbent setae, and white decumbent setae mostly laterally and anteriorly of anterior row. Epicranial mark dark brown, with white decumbent setae. Interantennal mark dark brown, with a tenuous pale brown area between epicranial mark. Frons dark brown on posterior half, with a sinuous, emarginate margin between the anterior half, which is pale brown. Frons with very few scattered and short dark decumbent setae, and a long erect dark seta near each clypeal lateral margins. Clypeus pale brown, slightly darker than frons. Labrum brown, with a row of long brown setae on anterior margin. Clypeolabrum height less than half eye height. Mandible dark brown. Labial palpi brown, distal palpomere slightly enlarged and dark brown.

Thorax: Thorax dark and pale brown. Pronotum as broad as long at middle diameter, pale brown, with two large longitudinal dark brown bands at middle, two large longitudinal, slightly concave dark brown bands submedially, and two small, slightly convex dark brown lines at lateral margins near furrow. Pronotum with a few scattered white bristles dorsally, many white and dark anteriorly oriented setae on anterior and lateral margins, and two or three anteriorly oriented outstanding white bristles on lateral margins. Mesothoracic prescutum dark brown with a thin longitudinal pale line at the middle, not raised, bean-shaped, with two posteriorly oriented small white bristles laterally on each side. Mesoscutum laterally dark brown, with two triangularshaped pale brown marks at middle, and one oblique pale brown line submedially on each side.Mesoscutellum pale brown, with a triangular dark brown patch on anterior margin and a longitudinal dark brown band medially, forming an “arrow-shaped” pattern. Metathoracic prescutum inconspicuous, pale brown, dark brown laterally. Metascutum dark brown, pale brown medially. Metascutellum pale brown, with dark brown margins. Meso and metathorax laterally dark brown, with pale maculation around sutures.

Wings: Wings lanceolate. Venation relatively simple. Fore and hind wing veins with dashed dark brown and pale brown pattern. Wing veins and crossveins with many spaced, dark and short setae. Wing membrane mostly hyaline, with dark brown infuscation around crossveins intersections on forewing veins RA, RP, CuA, on rhegmal area, at wing posterior margin and gradates. Costal area with simple crossveins anterior to pterostigma. Pterostigma inconspicuous, with a small dark brown patch encompassing two crossveins at the end of subcostal area on forewing and encompassing a single crossvein on hind wing. Base of male forewing with posterior vein darkened and slightly swollen.

Legs: Coxae dark brown, except for procoxae which is pale, with a small dark patch at the base, and a transversal dark brown band medially on external face. Coxae with few white bristles ventrally oriented, and forecoxae with one or two outstanding white bristles. Femora dark brown on exterior face, and pale on interior face, except for hind femur which is pale basally. Femora with many dark decumbent setae, a few white bristles apically and subapically on exterior face, and a few white bristles along interior face. Profemural sense hair very short, much less than half of profemur length, and mesofemoral sense hair shorter than that of profemur.Tibiae pale, with sub basal and subapical dark brown bands. Tibiae with many dark decumbent setae, a row of outstanding dark bristles on exterior face, and a pair of dark setae on tibial spurs placement. Pro and mesotibiae with many white bristles. Basitarsus pale, tarsomere II and distal tarsomeres basally pale and apically dark brown, and tarsomeres III and IV dark brown. Basitarsus of fore and mid legs subequal in size to distal tarsomere. Basitarsus of hindleg longer than distal tarsomere, more than three times its middle diameter. Tarsal claws short, roughly half the size of distal tarsomere. Tarsomeres with many decumbent short dark setae.

Abdomen: Abdomen banded, pale and dark brown. Tergites I, II and VIII dark brown, tergite III dark brown with a pale brown band medially, remaining tergites basally pale and distally dark brown, pale areas frequently with a thin, longitudinal brown line medially. Abdomen chaetotaxy. Tergites with many short setae, dark on dark half, and white on pale half, which are longer near terminalia. Sternites dark brown, pale brown on posterior margin. Sternites with many short white setae, and a few scattered dark setae. Male tergite IX very narrow, pale with some dark brown patches, with mostly white setae and few dark setae. Male sternite IX triangular on ventral view, with a narrow posterior projection medially, with many posteriorly oriented dark setae. Male ectoproct pale, with many long, posteriorly oriented dark and white setae on posterior face. Male ectoproct subtriangular on posterior view, with a very short postventral lobe. Male ectoproct internal face with a small ventral projection, which is basad to a strong convex fold. gonarcus narrow, slightly twisted on lateral margins; mediuncus elongated, very narrow, paramere plates sclerotized ventrally; paramere teeth basally not expanded; paramere teeth broad, short, oblong, straight and pointing posterodorsally, proximal to paramere plates.

Larva. Unknown.

Holotype. Male ( CNIN), CNIN:NEU:MYR:4090, Mexico: Baja California Sur, Los Cabos, Sierra de la Laguna , Rancho Ecológico Sol de Mayo , Cañón de la Zorra , pozas sur de la cascada; 23°29.829’ N, 109°47.592’ W, 232 m; 12.vii.2022, trampa de luz UV, vapor de mercurio, aditivos metálicos; A. Contreras, A. Gómez, Y.Marquez, A. Ramírez, M. Ramírez.

Etymology. This species is named after Prof. Dr. Claudio Gilberto Froehlich, as an homage to his many contributions to South American entomology, particularly on aquatic insects.

Distribution. Mexico (BCS).

Remarks. The sampling site for this new species is located within the Biosphere Reserve of Sierra de la Laguna, which is an important mountain range that divides the dry tropical and desert environments of the Peninsula in the southern part ( González-Abraham et al., 2010). Tyttholeon froehlichi n. sp. is the second species described in the previously monotypic genus Tyttholeon . It is very similar to its congener T.puerilis . Notable differences are in the wing venation, which is denser than in T. puerilis , although not as dense as in other Brachynemurini ; the hindleg basitarsus which is longer than the distal tarsomere, the clypeolabral height which is evidently shorter than in T. puerilis , the presence of a postventral lobe on the male ectoproct, and the male genitalia in which the mediuncus is narrower and the paramere teeth are more posteriorly oriented.

Stange (1994) mentioned an undescribed species from southern Baja California, but it is unclear whether it is the same species described here, or if it is another Tyttholeon species altogether. The metathoracic leg basitarsus size in his updated description for the genus fits that of our new species, but the absence of an ectoproct postventral lobe and the mesofemoral sense hair does not, which raises the possibility of a third, undescribed Tyttholeon species occurring in Baja California.

Figures

Figure 10 Tyttholeon froehlichi sp. nov., holotype. A) habitus, dorsal view. B) habitus, lateral view.C) head, thorax and legs, lateral view.D) head and thorax, dorsal view.E) head and forelegs, frontal view.

Figure 11 Tyttholeon froehlichi sp. nov., holotype male terminalia. A) dorsal view. B) lateral view.C) ventral view.D) posterior view, gonarcus complex in ventral view.— Abbreviations: et: ectoproct; etl: ectoproct postventral lobe; etm: ectoproct median process; etv: ectoproct ventral process; go: gonarcus; md: mediuncus; pap: paramere plates; pat: paramere tooth; stIX: sternite IX; tgIX:tergite IX.