Ameromyia guarica (Stange, 1994) Tavares & Machado & Calor, 2023

Tavares, Leon Gustavo de Miranda, Machado, Renato Jose Pires & Calor, Adolfo Ricardo, 2023, The Neotropical antlion genus Ameromyia Banks, 1913 (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae), systematics and redefinition under a phylogenetic approach, Arthropod Systematics & amp; Phylogeny 81, pp. 499-553 : 499

4.7. Ameromyia guarica (Stange, 1994) comb. nov.

Figs 2B , 3B , 7C , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27

Venezueleon guaricus Stange 1994: 87. [Holotype male, Rio Orituco. 15 km S Calabozo, Guarico, Venezuela, February 27, 1988, R. B. Miller and L. A. Stange (FSCA)]. - Stange 2004: 229, 383, 392 [species catalog, genera identification key (adults), genera identification key (larvae)]. - Oswald 2021 [species catalog].

Distribution.

Venezuela (Fig. 13 ).

Diagnosis.

Pronotum broader than long; femoral sense hairs absent; profemur without leg bristles; tibiae leg bristles equal or subequal to tibial width; pretarsal claws shorter than distal tarsomere; forewing with long rhegmal infuscation connecting both banksian lines.

Description.

Adult. Head: Antennae with 30-31 flagellomeres. Antennae dark brown, flagellomeres darker than scape and pedicel. Vertex light brown, with dark brown patches medially, dark brown spots on anterior and posterior rows and light brown markings on middle row. Vertex decumbent setae white, sometimes black on interantennal area. Frons pale brown, sometimes with dark brown patches medially. Frons setae black. Clypeus pale brown, slightly lighter near labrum. Labrum pale brown, slightly darker than clypeus. Mandibles black, completely covered by clypeolabrum. Palpi pale brown, distal palpomeres darker around sensory area. - Thorax: Thorax on lateral view dark brown, with an evident or faint longitudinal pale brown band under wings. Pronotum broader than long, pale brown with longitudinal dark brown markings laterad of a longitudinal medial pale brown stripe. Mesonotum pale brown, with dark brown laterally on mesoscutum. Metanotum pale brown with dark brown laterally on metascutum. Thorax with dark brown spots on setal insertions. - Wings: Wing tip acute. Forewing membrane with a slight brown tint, hind wing membrane hyaline. Dark brown infuscations along forewing crossveins which form the banksian lines; along rhegmal area connecting both banksian lines; along dashed crossveins on radial area; along few crossveins on mediocubital area after CuA fork; along crossveins connecting with CuA posterior branch of fork posterior margin; and on general crossveins and gradates near wing margin. Forewing mediocubital area with dark infuscations around vertical crossveins which become sparser along MA vein, culminating on rhegmal area. Forewing CuP vein and hind wing CuA extending well before forewing CuA fork and hind wing MP fork respectively, with at least four crossveins connecting them and posterior branch of fork. Pterostigma brown on basal half and pale on distal half, opaque, encompassing five to six crossveins. Cells delimited by transversal veins in hind wing posterior area longer than high. - Legs: Coxae brown. Legs pale brown, with posterior face much darker than anterior face. Profemur without black bristles. Meso and metafemur with very few black bristles which are shorter than femoral width. Femoral sense hairs absent. Tibiae with black bristles that are shorter than tibial width. Tibial spurs longer than pretarsal claws. Tarsomeres pale brown, dark brown on ventral surface. Pretarsal claws shorter than distal tarsomere. - Abdomen: Abdomen dark brown, with many brown setae. Male parameres plates on lateral view with a round dorsoposterior margin. Gonarcus arch positioned not above paramere plates on lateral view. Male genitalia clavate setae with sickled clubs. - Larva (third instar). Head: Head capsule slightly broader than long in dorsal view, slightly longer than broad in ventral view. Head capsule dorsally dark brown, with few light brown patches medially. Clypeolabrum dark, darker near mandibles. Head capsule ventrally light brown. Short dolichasters on head dorsal surface cone-like. Head capsule dolichasters mostly black, with a few white dolichasters near anterior and lateral margins. Row of dolichasters on labrum anterior margin black. Head dorsal surface covered with white thread-like setae, mostly on head capsule posterolateral margins, and mandibles base. - Thorax: Thorax dorsally dark brown, with sparsed light brown patches, and ventrally light brown with small dark spots on setal insertion. Thorax dorsal surface with many short, black dolichasters, and white thread-like setae. Mesothoracic spiracle borne on tubercle, which is about two times longer than broad. - Abdomen: Abdomen covered with white thread-like setae dorsally. Abdomen dorsally light brown, with sparsed grey and dark brown patches, and ventrally dark brown with large triangular light brown patches medially at each sternite, with small dark spots on setal insertion and near each basal abdominal margin. Lateral face ventrad of the ventral setiferous processes of spiracles with white thread-like setae. Abdominal setiferous processes with black and white setae.

Remarks.

This species is known only by the specimens presented in the original description. Previously a monotypic genus, Venezueleon is hereby synonymized under Ameromyia . Both genera had very similar diagnosis, differing only in regard of the size of the pretarsal claws (large in Ameromyia and small in Venezueleon ) and profemoral sense hairs (long in Ameromyia and absent in Venezueleon ) (Fig. 3B ). Ameromyia guarica comb. nov. also had some other differences such as the reduction of leg setae in general, but those characters are highly variable within Brachynemurini species, and in Myrmeleontidae in general as discussed by former authors ( Stange 1970). Ameromyia guarica also has the male genitalia extremely similar to the Ameromyia species, and shares the clavate setae with a sickled club with other species in the Ameromyia modesta species group (Fig. 7C ). Stange (1970) also suggests that, in Brachynemurini , a reduction of leg setae and tibial spurs size could be an adaptation to a diet of aphids and pollen (although no gut sampling was performed in this study).

According to Stange (1994; 2004), there are three undescribed species, all known from single specimens, which were collected near A. guarica type locality. Two of these specimens, collected at Falcon, Venezuela, have been analyzed but it is uncertain whether they are indeed new species. They differed mostly in coloration on pronotal and abdominal markings. Furthermore, only two larval specimens of Venezueleon Ameromyia sensu Stange were located and analyzed (Figs 26 , 27 ). Both specimens were not labeled as V. guaricus , but one as " Venezueleon sp. nov. ", preserved in alcohol (Fig. 26 ), and the other was pinned and unlabeled (Fig. 27 ), but placed in the same tray as other A. guarica specimens, in which the tray itself had a " V. guaricus " label. Both larval specimens appear to be from different species, but it was unclear which one was actually the larvae of A. guarica . Although Venezueleon was previously described as having no thread-like setae, both specimens bear this character. White or pale thread-like setae are very difficult to be visualized in alcohol (Fig. 26A-C ), but very evident when the specimen is dry (Figs 26D, E , 27 ). Additionally, the alcohol preserved specimen appears to be covered in a mold-like substance, which is tangled in the thread-like setae and further difficults the visualization of the latter structure (Fig. 27D, E ). Furthermore, as the specimen labeled as " Venezueleon sp. nov. " is the one that could fit A. guarica original description in this scenario (Fig. 26 ), we are assuming this is the one reared and associated by the author ( Stange 1994), which is here included among A. guarica examined material, but more data is needed to further confirm the association.

Examined material.

Paratype: (1♂, 1 larvae) VENEZUELA - GUARICO • 1♂ [paratype], 1 larvae; 15 km S Calabozo, Rio Orituco ; 27.ii.1988; R. B. Miller and L. A. Stange; FSCA .

Figures

Figure 2. Ameromyia specimen views: A A. strigosa, head and forelegs, frontal view. B A. guarica and C A. modesta, head and thorax, dorsal view.

Figure 3. Ameromyia specimens, head, thorax and legs, lateral view: A A. tendinosa, photograph by Lara Lopardo (EMAU). B A. guarica. C A. explicata sp. nov. - Abbreviations: fe: femur external face; fi: femur internal face; fs: femoral sense hair; mep: mesepisternum; ptc: pretarsal claws.

Figure 7. Ameromyia male terminalia and genitalia chaetotaxy: A A. protensa lectotype male terminalia, lateral view, photograph by Lara Lopardo (EMAU). B A. explicata sp. nov., globose club of genitalic sac clavate setae. C A. guarica, same but club sickled. D A. clepsydra sp. nov., same, but club subglobose. - Abbreviations: et, ectoproct; etl, ectoproct postventral lobe.

Figure 13. South America map showing the current distributional records for Ameromyia species in the Ameromyia modesta species group.

Figure 24. Ameromyia guarica comb. nov.: A holotype, habitus, lateral view. B Holotype, dorsal view.

Figure 25. Ameromyia guarica: A paratype fore and hind wings, dorsal view. B Holotype, head and forelegs, frontal view. C Illustration of male genitalia, lateral view. D Holotype male terminalia, lateral view. - Abbreviations: cs, clavate setae; et, ectoproct; etl, ectoproct postventral lobe; go, gonarcus; hs, hinge setae; pah, paramere hinge; pap, paramere plate; pat, paramere tooth; st, sternite; tg, tergite.

Figure 26. Ameromyia guarica, preserved in alcohol, third instar larval specimen: A Dorsal view. B Ventral view. C Lateral view. D Dorsal view, dried up. E Lateral view of head and thorax, dried up. Photographs by Jonathan Bremer (FSCA). - Abbreviations: ts, thread-like setae; tu, tubercle.

Figure 27. Larval specimen of an unknown species of Venezueleon (Ameromyia sensu Stange): A dorsal view. B Ventral view. C Lateral view. Photographs by Jonathan Bremer (FSCA).