Panorpa debilis, Westwood, 1841

Dickson, Kathryn, 2024, Catalogue of the Family Panorpidae (Mecoptera) in Canada, México and the United States, Zootaxa 5559 (1), pp. 1-63 : 18-19

debilis Westwood, 1841

Panorpa debilis Westwood 1841: 191 (description); Walker 1852: 464 (description); Hagen 1861: 243 (description ♂, new records from PA, NY, GA); Provancher 1877: 211 (description); Brodie & White 1883: 65 (checklist of the Dominion of Canada); Packard 1889: 160 (morphology of sense organs in the labrum-epipharynx and antennae pits); Banks 1892: 362 (NA species list, debilis present in GA, NY, PA); Smith 1900: 59 (present in NJ); Carpenter 1939: 163 (♀ type specimen in NHMUK is canadensis );); Byers 1962a: 468 (♀ lectotype designated); Byers 1962b: 304 (habitat, new record from ON); Byers 1963: 148 (reminder that figs in Byers 1954 are debilis ); Thornhill & Johnson 1974: 48 (key, distribution and habitat in MI), fig 9 (♂ genital bulb), fig 33 (♀ genital plate), fig 48 (map of distribution in MI); Webb et al. 1975: 303 (description, habitat, distribution), fig 82 (forewing), fig 128 (♂ genital bulb), fig 129 (♂ ventral paramere), fig 158 (♀ genital plate), fig 179 (distribution map); Thornhill 1979: 887 (pair formation pheromones); Thornhill 1980a: 180 (ecological and behavioural interactions of Panorpa in MI woodland); Thornhill 1981: 361 (reproductive behavior); Aranguren 1987: 145 (description/figures ♂ ♀ incl. genitalia, distribution—new record from NB, habitat); Pothier 1997: 1 (presence in QC); Byers, 2002: 186 (comparison with appalachia ); Cheung et al. 2006: 8 (distribution in ON, photos ♂ genital bulb and wing); Missoweit & Sauer 2007: 1207 (reproductive strategy contrasted to European species alpina, vulgaris); Somma 2011: 61 (1841 is the correct naming year); Flint 2013: 125 (description intraspecific variation), figs 12–16 (the ventral parameres and aedeagal hamuli of the 5 different forms); Magnier & Montgomery 2017: 247 (function of wing-flashing behavior); Ning Li et al. 2019: 672 (mtDNA genome); Flint, et al. 2020: 7 (key), 10 (VA seasonal and locality records), fig 27 (wings), fig 51 (♂ genital bulb), map 16 (distribution in VA); Wang & Hua, 2021: 546 (morphological evidence for polyphyly of Panorpa ).

Lectotype ♀: NHMUK [# NHMUK 015055234 ]. The labels are a white-on-blue circular label “ LECTOTYPE ”, a white circular label “39 11 16 568”, collected by “ E. Doubleday, Trenton Falls , New York ”, “ Panorpa debilis Westw., Trans. Ent. Soc. IV. 191”, and red rectangular label “ LECTOTYPE Panorpa debilis Westwood ♀ George W. Byers, 1961”.

Notes: Byers 1973: 373 doubted the reported presence of debilis in CO. Flint 2013: 125 concluded that Carpenter’s (1931) specimens from DC were probably consuetudinis , as the specimen from VA certainly was. Flint 2013: 125 also noted that Carpenter’s (1931) specimens for NC and TN were more recently described as appalachia Byers 2002 .

Panorpa rufescens Rambur 1842: 330 (description). Two authors ( Hine 1901: 251, Esben-Petersen 1921: 63) suggested synonymy between rufescens and debilis , but according to (Banks 1962a) the rufescens specimen was misidentified.

Panorpa canadensis Banks 1895: 315 (description); Hine 1901: 25 (description, present in QC, NH), fig 24 (♂ forewing), fig 39 (lateral view of ♂ terminalia); Banks 1907: 33 (updated NA species list, distribution described as “ Canada ”); Engelhardt 1915: 109 (checklist of species from the eastern US, new record from NY); Esben-Petersen 1915: 224 (list of American species); Esben-Petersen 1921: 67 (description), fig 72 (♂ genital bulb); Carpenter 1931: 238 (description), fig 19 (♂ lectotype genital bulb), fig 61 (♀ lectotype genital plate), fig 84 (forewing); Byers 1954: 496 (new records from DC, IL, IN, MI, New England, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, TN, VA, WI, WV, QC), fig 5 (♂ genital bulb), fig 6 (pupa), fig 8 (rostrum and mouthparts of pupa); Frost & Brown 1955: 56 (PA checklist); Byers 1962a: 468 (synonymy with senior debilis ); Flint 2013: 126 ( canadensis ♂ lectotype designated).

Lectotype ♂: MCZC [ MCZ-ENT00011267 ]. Canada. QC, Sherbrooke, P. A. Bégin. Banks (1895) had one specimen of each sex when he described the species; the two were reportedly deposited at MCZC, but the ♀ could not be found.

Distribution: Flint (2013) concluded that debilis , in its various forms, is found north of the VA-NC border and west of the Piedmont. Canada; NB, ON, QC. USA; CT, GA, IL, IN, MA*, ME*, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VA, WI, WV*.