Tyttholeon Adams, 1956, 1957

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 : 9-12

Tyttholeon Adams, 1956

Figs. 1D , 10–13

Tyttholeon Adams, 1956: 106 [Type species: Tyttholeon puerilis Adams, 1956 , by original designation and monotypy]. – Stange, 1970: 50, 157, 180, 183 [redescription, taxonomy, distribution, illustrations]. – Stange and Miller 1990: 159 [larva head photo]. – Stange, 1994: 92 [taxonomy, description, phylogeny].– Penny et al., 1997: 86 [taxonomy, distribution]. – Stange, 2004: 251 [taxonomy, type, distribution]. – Machado et al., 2019: 441 [list of genera].

Distribution. Southwestern USA, Northwestern MX.

Included species. Tyttholeon puerilis Adams, 1956 ; Tyttholeon froehlichi n. sp.

Larvae known. T. puerilis .

Diagnosis. Adults.Diminutive size, 10-15 mm in both sexes; antenna with 20-25 flagellomeres, flagellomere 1 longer than wide; vertex well developed and dorsally projected; frons without setae; ocular rim setae absent; greatest ocular width about half interocular distance; labial palpi with distal palpomere slightly swollen; pronotum as wide as long; legs short, profemur about 1.5 times longer than procoxa, not swollen; hindleg longer than foreleg, which is almost the same size as midleg; profemur without clavate setae; profemur without elongated white bristles; profemural sense hair shorter than half profemur length, and mesofemoral sense hair equal or shorter than profemoral sense hair; tibial spurs absent; pretarsal claw short, shorter than hind basitarsus, which is either longer or shorter than distal tarsomere; narrow wings; hypostigmatic cell without crossveins; 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 ectoproct with postventral lobe absent, if present very short; male genitalia in unfolded position when in rest; male genitalia with an arched gonarcus dorsal to the parameres; mediuncus present, narrow, projecting dorsoposteriorly and curved and more sclerotized apically, with transversal grooves; parameres free, hinged; paramere plates dorsoventrally short; paramere teeth bilobed; male ectoproct with a ventral process, with or without a postventral lobe (if present very short); female posterior gonapophysis subcylindrical, lateral gonapophysis not fused; gonapophyseal plate large; pregenital plate greatly enlarged with a prominent median process posteriorly.

Larvae. In Stange (1994).

Etymology. Tyttho is greek to “small, young”, an allusion to the diminutive size of the Tyttholeon specimens.

Remarks. Previously monotypic, Tyttholeon was originally described by Adams (1956) as a genus related to Maracandula , but with simpler and different wing venation, fewer setae, and simpler male genitalia. Stange (1970) redescribed Tyttholeon to include terminalia characters, such as a highly modified female pregenital plate and a male ectoproct “produced mesally below”. The same characters were mentioned later as being autapomorphic to the genus, adding the ectoproct as not bearing postventral lobes ( Stange, 1994). Herein, we update Tyttholeon diagnosis, as the male of the new species does bear ventral processes on ectoprocts, as well as a very short postventral lobe. The mesofemoral sense hair size is also updated to reflect the new species.

Martins Neto and Vulcano (1989) illustrated the forewing of T.puerilis together with the description of several fossil species of Neuroptera and stated that the wing venation of the antlion species from the Crato formation were most similar to Tyttholeon , but did not explain why.This similarity was presumably due to the reduced venation of Tyttholeon , and the fewer RP veins in the fossil species, although the less dense wing venation of T. puerilis might be correlated to its diminutive size.

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 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.

Figure 12 Tyttholeon puerilis Adams, 1956, holotype. A) habitus, dorsal view.B) habitus, lateral view.C) head and forelegs, frontal view. D) head, thorax and legs, lateral view.E) head and thorax, dorsal view. F) type labels. Photographs by Rachel Diaz-Bastin (CAS).

Figure 13 Tyttholeon puerilis Adams, 1956, male and female terminalia. A) male terminalia, ventral view, B) posterior view and C) lateral view. D) female terminalia, ventral view and E) lateral view.— Abbreviations: ds: digging setae; et: ectoproct; etm: ectoproct median process; 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; tgIX:tergite IX.