Protohermes guangxiensis

Liu, Xingyue, Hayashi, Fumio & Yang, Ding, 2008, The Protohermes guangxiensis species-group (Megaloptera: Corydalidae), with descriptions of four new species, Zootaxa 1851, pp. 29-42 : 30

The Protohermes guangxiensis species–group

Diagnosis. The body coloration of the adult is generally yellowish brown with some dark marks, and the wing is pale yellow to grayish brown with some pale marks. The group generally lacks a post-ocular spine on the head. Lateral ocelli lie close to each other, the distance between them being less than that from them to the antennal bases. The vertex of the head is either immaculate or has from one to four pairs of small, dark markings. Prothoracic maculae usually number from one to three pairs. The forewing costal cellules are marked with brownish columns that are margined in white or yellow. The posterolateral portions of the male 9th tergite are more or less laterally produced and the anterior margin is shallowly to deeply V-shaped. The male 9th sternum is usually short, with a posterior, subtrapezoidal incision. The male gonostylus is well developed, slender, elongate, and unguiform. The male cercus is flattened. In all members of the group, the male 10th tergite is subcylindrical with the distal portion produced into a medially directed ventral process. The male 10th sternum is arched and the dorsomedial process is mostly well developed. The ventromedial process of the male 10th sternum is sometimes present but feebly developed, while the lateral lobe is digitiform, sometimes with bifurcate tip. Only three of the five species of the group are known as females and those that are known have a subtrapezoidal 8th sternum. Additionally, the membrane of the female 8th abdominal segment, as well as the 8th and 9th abdominal intersegmental areas, are semisclerotized.

Remarks. The P. guangxiensis group appears to be closely related to the P. differentialis group in having a similar male 9th tergum with the posterolateral portions produced laterally and an elongate male 9th gonostylus ( Liu & Yang 2006b). However, it can be easily separated from the P. differentialis group by its pale body and wing coloration, the male 9th sternum with a subtrapezoidal posterior incision, and by the male 10th tergite with a medially directed ventral process. In the species of the P. differentialis group, the body and wings are generally blackish, the posterior incision of the male 9th sternum is V-shaped, and the male 10th tergite does not possess the medially directed ventral process.