Sisyra minuta Esben-Petersen, 1935

Assmar, Alice Carvalho & Calor, Adolfo Ricardo, 2020, The spongillafly genus Sisyra Burmeister, 1839 (Neuroptera: Sisyridae) from Brazil: Distributional, taxonomical and bionomical notes, Zootaxa 4802 (2), pp. 374-382 : 376

Sisyra minuta Esben-Petersen, 1935

( Figs 1–2 , 8–11 )

Sisyra minuta Esben-Petersen, 1935:152 [description]; Parfin & Gurney 1956:478 [revision]; Penny 1981:164 [record]; Flint 2006:281 [record].

Remarks. Esben-Petersen (1935) described this species based on a male specimen from “Taderinha”, Brazil, which according to Parfin & Gurney (1956) is a misspelling to “Taperinha” (Amazonas, Brazil). Later, Penny (1981) and Flint (2006) recorded S. minuta from Manaus city, Amazonas state, Brazil, with specimens from Adolpho Ducke Reserve ( Fig. 2 ).

Esben-Petersen (1935) described the species as small, with yellowish brown forewing and hyaline hind wing ( Figs 8–9 ), without providing a description of the male genitalia. Parfin & Gurney (1956) and Penny (1981) illustrated and described the male genitalia of the holotype; however, important structures were not highlighted. Therefore, additional illustrations of this species are here presented in order to complement previous illustrations of the male genitalia ( Figs 10–11 ).

The remarkable characteristic of S. minuta is the short male gonocoxite 9, with the apex sharply pointed dorsoventrally; “beak-like” as stated by Penny (1981). The specimen analyzed in this paper has differences in the male genitalia from what is described and illustrated in the literature. These differences could be attributed to the angle of the genitalia during the illustration or drawing styles. The primary differences are in the gonostyle 11, which has almost same size than the apex, with a lateral “finger-like” joint to the gonocoxite 9 ( Fig. 11 ). In addition, the sharply pointed apex of gonocoxite 9 has a second projection on the inner region, which bears a distal seta ( Fig. 10 ). Parfin & Gurney (1956) illustrated the male genitalia of S. minuta showing a small gonostyle 11, without lateral joint, and the sharply pointed apex of the gonocoxite 9, without an inner projection. Penny (1981) did not identify the inner small projection of the gonocoxite 9, but highlighted three sharply pointed structures, which could be interpreted as the gonostyle 11, the gonocoxite 9 apex and the lateral joint of the gonostyle 11 with gonocoxite 9, which could appear as a sharp projection depending on the view.

Material examined. BRAZIL: Amazonas, Manaus, Reserva Adolpho Ducke , 3°5’0” S 60°0’0” W, 14– 18.xi.2009, Malaise trap, Mendonça, M.M., 1 male ( UFBA, N0040 ) .

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. Maps of the new distributional records of Sisyra Burmeister, 1839 species (1) in Brazil. Emphasis in the (2) Amazonas state; (3) Northeast region of Brazil, with the first records to states of (4) Ceará and (5) Pernambuco, and additional records to (6) Bahia state; and (7) Minas Gerais state. The half-green half-red hexagon means superposition of species records.

FIGURES 8–11. Sisyra minuta Esben-Petersen, 1935 (8) forewing; (9) hind wing; and male genitalia (10) dorsal view and (11) lateral view.Abbreviations: C= costal; Sc= subcostal; RA= radial anterior; RP= radial posterior; MA= medial anterior; MP= medial posterior; CuA= cubital anterior; CuP= cubital posterior; A= anal; Ect= ectoproct; gx 9= gonocoxite 9; gx 11= gonocoxite 11; gs 11= gonostyle 11; st 9= sternite 9.