Heterosmylus Krueger , 1913a

Dong, Min, Xu, Han, Wang, Yongjie, Jia, Chunfeng & Liu, Zhiqi, 2016, Revision of the genus Heterosmylus Krueger, 1913 from China (Neuroptera, Osmylidae), ZooKeys 637, pp. 107-128 : 108-110

Heterosmylus Krueger, 1913a

Type species.

Heterosmylus aspersus Krüger 1913a: 37, original designation. Deposited in Stettiner Museum (National Museum Szczecin, Poland).

Type locality.

India: Sikkim.

Diagnosis.

Head brown or dark brown; compound eyes black; antennae shorter than half length of forewing; prothorax black and length longer than width, with yellow setae; meso- and metathorax dark brown with long setae; legs yellow with short brown setae; forewings oblong and subacute at apex, with few brown spots; nygmata clear surrounded by light brown spot; veins thickened; costal cross-veins simple and occasionally bifurcate; forewing Rs with 8-15 branches, distal to the base of wing; cross-veins among Rs branches forming two or three series of gradates; forewing M branching more basally than the divergence of basal branch of Rs; no more than four cross-veins present between the two branches of M; forewing Cu bifurcating near the base of wing; CuA and CuP with numerous pectinate branches; CuP longer than half length of CuA; hind wings similar to forewings in size and shape without any spot apart from pterostigma; hindwing M branching near the base of wing; hindwing CuA with numerous pectinate branches; CuP simple and shorter than half length of CuA; male genitalia with 9th tergite narrow, and sternite approximately quadrate; ectoproct relatively large, callus cerci rounded and located at the middle or underside of ectoproct; male genitalia composed of gonarcus, entoprocesses and mediuncus, arched gonarcus similar to other genera of Protosmylinae; mediuncus attached with a membrane below gonarcus, mediuncus bent into C-shape laterally; female genitalia with 9th tergite narrow; spermathecae bent into n-shape with base expanded and apex columniform.

Included species.

Heterosmylus aspersus Krüger, Heterosmylus curvagradatus Yang, Heterosmylus flavidus Yang, Heterosmylus limulus Yang, Heterosmylus primus Nakahara, Heterosmylus processus sp. n., Heterosmylus shennonganus Yang, Heterosmylus wolonganus Yang, Heterosmylus yunnanus Yang.

Comments.

Although the type species of Heterosmylus was not described in detail when the genus was established, Krüger provided a detailed description of the type species in a following paper later that year ( Krüger 1913a, b). This subsequent work was overlooked by Nakahara (1955), and later Ghosh (2000) presented a brief description for the species without the genitalic characters. Consequently, the systematic status of Heterosmylus was not well defined, although it is clear that the monophyly of Heterosmylus is well supported in the recent phylogenetic work on Osmylidae by Winterton et al. (in press). Heterosmylus also can be distinguished from other genera ( Gryposmylus Krüger, Lysmus Navás, Paryphosmylus Krüger) in Protosmylinae based mainly on wing venation. In Heterosmylus , the veins are thickened and branches of forewing M have no more than four ma-mp cross-veins. In both Gryposmylus and Lysmus these are slender and the M vein generally five ma-mp cross-veins. Moreover, the base of costal-field of forewing of Heterosmylus species is narrower compared with that of Gryposmylus . Heterosmylus differs from Paryphosmylus in that the wings are mostly hyaline and single cross-vein presents before the separation of basal branch of Rs ( Martins et al. 2016).

Heterosmylus is mainly recorded in the Oriental Region and especially in China (Fig. 1), typically in warmer and humid environments. According to the distribution of the individual species, we find Heterosmylus wolonganus , Heterosmylus shennonganus and Heterosmylus yunnanus with relatively wide distributions. It seems that Heterosmylus wolonganus has a broad geographical distribution from central to western China, occurring in four geographically continuous provinces, Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi and Henan. Interestingly, most localities of Heterosmylus wolonganus are along the boundary of Oriental and Palaearctic regions in China. Heterosmylus shennonganus is principally distributed in central China, representing a typical Oriental species. Heterosmylus yunnanus is another widespread species, distributed in Tibet, Yunnan and Sichuan. Considering the similar environment in these localities, it is estimated that these species might be present in the whole southwest of China. The other five species, Heterosmylus curvagradatus , Heterosmylus limulus , Heterosmylus flavidus , Heterosmylus primus and Heterosmylus processus sp. n., are only recorded in a single region. Heterosmylus curvagradatus is restricted to Fujian, while Heterosmylus flavidus is a distinctive species restricted in the west of Yunnan. Heterosmylus limulus is limited to Yadong (Tibet) and it could be found at the same altitude as Heterosmylus yunnanus . Heterosmylus primus is only recorded in Taiwan. We did not examine this species so we could not compare it with the other species, but Heterosmylus curvagradatus shows the similar appearance with this species, suggesting their potential close relationship. The new species Heterosmylus processus sp. n. is highly distinctive (weakly de fined pterostigma and hyaline and colourless membrane) is found in Shaanxi near the Qinling Mountains.