Euroleon Esben-Petersen, 1918:125

Hajiesmaeilian, Abolfazl, Shoushtari, Reza Vafaei, Mozaffarian, Fariba & Ebrahimi, Ebrahim, 2020, Tribe Myrmeleontini (Neuroptera: Planipennia: Myrmeleontidae) in Iran, Zootaxa 4751 (1), pp. 153-160 : 154-159

Genus Euroleon Esben-Petersen, 1918:125 .

Hölzel, 1972: 36; Aspöck, 1980: 134; Krivokhatsky & Zakharenko, 1994: 34-45; Krivokhatsky. 1994: 49-61.

Euroleon nostras (Geoffroy in Fourcroy, 1785) (Figs. 1, 7, 13, 16, 22)

Formicaleo nostras Geoffroy in Fourcroy, 1785: 360

Distribution: Widespread in Europe, Russia, Turkey, Morocco, southwest Asia, Iran (New Record).

Material examined: 1♀, Mazandaran Province, Kelardasht , Rudbarak, N: 36° 28’ 56” E: 51° 07’ 39”, 1800 m, 1.IX.1990, leg.: E. Ebrahimi, M. Badii; 1♂, Golestan Province, Kalaleh, Gharesar, N: 37° 32’ 30” E: 55° 43’ 36”, 380 m, 2.X.1992, leg.: E. Ebrahimi, M. Badii ; 1 specimen with damaged abdomen, same, but Sulgerd , Yakhti Kalan, N: 37° 26’ 59” E: 56° 08’ 23”, 1500 m, 5.X.1994, leg.: H. Mirzayans, E. Ebrahimi, M. Badii.

Euroleon parvus Hölzel, 1972 (Figs. 2, 8, 17, 23)

Euroleon parvus Hölzel, 1972: 36

Distribution: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Iran ( Mirmoayedi et al. 1999: Sharlegh, Golestan National Park).

Material examined: 2♀, Khorasan-e Shomali Province, Golestan National Park, Almeh, N: 37° 20’ E: 56° 10’, 1700 m, 25.VII.2001, leg.: E. Gilasian, M. Moghaddam, R. Ghayourfar ; 1 specimen with damaged abdomen, Golestan Province, Golestan National Park, Sulgerd, N: 37° 32’ 10” E: 56° 13’ 30”, 1250 m, 28.VII.2001, leg.: E. Gilasian, M. Moghaddam, R. Ghayourfar .

FIGS. 1–6. Iranian Myrmeleontini . 1, Euroleon nostras (♀); 2, E. parvus (♀); 3, Myrmeleon formicarius (♀); 4, M. noacki (♂); 5, M. hyalinus (♀); 6, M. inconspicuus (♀).

Diagnoses: Euroleon species are distinguished by their characteristic patterns on wings, head, pronotum and anal cross veins. They have spots in their anterior half of the forewing membrane, while Euroleon nostras has a distinct spot near the end of Cup+1A in the posterior half of the forewing. Anal cross veins are divided after A2+A3 vein, creating two rows of cells in E. parvus , but they are almost non-existent in E. nostras . The costal area of E. nostras has some forked cross veins before the pterostigma, while they are entirely simple in E. parvus .

The pronotum of E. nostras is entirely black, but divided by a yellow central line (Fig. 7). The pronotum of E. parvus is characterized by two black trapezoidal patterns each having a yellow circular marking in the anterior half and yellow lateral margins patterns (Fig. 8). Features of the face and vertex for E. nostras and E. parvus are shown in Figures 16 and 17.

FIGS. 7–15. Iranian Myrmeleontini . Thorax (7-12): 7, Euroleon nostras ; 8, E. parvus ; 9, Myrmeleon formicarius ; 10, M. noacki ; 11, M. hyalinus ; 12, M. inconspicuus . Male genitalia (13-15): 13, E. nostras ; 14, M. noacki ; 15, M. hyalinus .

Genus Myrmeleon Linnaeus, 1767: 913

Hölzel, 1972: 36; Aspöck, 1980: 131.

Myrmeleon formicarius Linnaeus, 1767 (Figs. 3, 9, 18, 24)

Myrmeleon formicarius Linnaeus, 1767: 914 FIGS. 16–21. Iranian Myrmeleontini . Head. 16, Euroleon nostras ; 17, E. parvus ; 18, Myrmeleon formicarius ; 19, M. noacki ; 20, M. hyalinus ; 21, M. inconspicuus .

Distribution: widespread in Palaearctic Region, Iran ( Hölzel, 1972: Assalem)

Comment: The species was reported from Iran by Hölzel (1972) based on a single female specimen, but later it was characterized as a boreal species leading to its exclusion from the Iranian antlion fauna ( Mirmoayedi et al. 2015). Our study suggests that the distribution of this species in Iran is restricted to the Caspian Coast province of Mazandaran.

Material examined: 1♀, Mazandaran Province, Tonekabon, Sehezar , Ash Mahaleh, N: 36° 35’ 12” E: 50° 49’ 55”, 760 m, 7.IX.1990, leg.: E. Ebrahimi, M. Badii; 1♀, same, but Tonekabon, Dohezar, Asal Mahalleh, N: 36° 39’ 32” E: 50° 48’ 04”, 1400-1800 m, 9. VIII.1999, leg.: E. Ebrahimi, M. Mofidi-Neyestanak, M. Badii.

Myrmeleon noacki Ohm, 1965 (Figs. 4, 10, 14, 19, 25)

Myrmeleon noacki Ohm, 1965: 108 .

Distribution: Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran (New Record)

Material examined: 1♂, Kuhkiloyeh & Boyerahmad Province , Yassuj, Dena, Absepah, N: 30° 49’ 03.87” E: 51° 28’ 31.03”, 21.VI.2005, leg.: R. Zahiri, M. Nematian .

Myrmeleon hyalinus Olivier, 1811 (Figs. 5, 11, 15, 20, 26)

Myrmeleon hyalinus Olivier, 1811: 126 .

Distribution: Southern Europe, North Africa, Canary Islands, India, southwest Asia, Iran ( Hölzel, 1972: 80 km southeast Tehran; Mirmoayedi et al. 2015: Aminabad, Isfahan)

FIGS. 22–28. Distributional maps for Iranian Myrmeleontini . 22, Euroleon nostras ; 23, E. parvus ; 24, Myrmeleon formicarius ; 25, M. noacki ; 26, M. hyalinus ; 27, M. pseudohyalinus ; 28, M. inconspicuus .

Material examined: 1♂, 1♀, 4 specimens with damaged abdomen, Kerman Province, Jiroft , Kahnuj, N: 28° 01’ 30” E: 57° 44’ 46”, 650 m, 10.IV.1997, leg.: H. Barari, M. Badii, A. Sarafrazi; 1♂, 1♀, Hormozgan Province, Banifarour Island, N: 26° 07’ 11” E: 54° 26’ 28”, 0-20 m, 4.II.1999, leg.: H. Barari, M. Mofidi-Neyestanak ; 1♀, same, but Gheshm Island , Turian, N: 26° 52’ 35” E: 56° 01’ 05”, 29.II.1999, leg.: R. Ghayourfar, Sh. Manzari; 1♂, 1 specimen with damaged abdomen, same, but Abumosa Island, N: 25° 52’ 47” E: 55° 01’ 59”, 0 m, 6.II.2001, leg.: E. Ebrahimi, M. Mofidi-Neyestanak ; 1♀, Gilan Province, Tarom , Gilvan, N: 36° 49’ 47” E: 49° 20’ 14”, 322 m, 1.VII.2003, leg.: M. Moghaddam, H. Naserzadeh.

Myrmeleon pseudohyalinus Hölzel, 1972 (Fig. 27)

Myrmeleon (Morter) pseudohyalinus Hölzel, 1972: 38 .

Distribution: Afghanistan, Morocco, Iran ( Hölzel, 1972: Fars Province, Miyan Kotal, Kazerun as type locality, Sistan & Baluchestan Province, 100 km North of Zahedan and same, but Iranshahr; Mirmoayedi et al. 2015: Quir előtt 15 km Firuzabad, 28-30˚N/52-54˚E).

Myrmeleon inconspicuus Rambur, 1842 (Figs. 6, 12, 21, 28)

Myrmeleon inconspicuus Rambur, 1842: 406 .

Distribution: Europe, North Africa, southwest Asia, Iran ( Hölzel, 1972: Vanak, 15 km North of Tehran; Mirmoayedi et al. 2015: Alborz Province, Karaj)

Material examined: 1♀, Mazandaran Province, Nowshahr, N: 36° 36’ 53” E: 51° 30’ 21”, 25.VI.1965, leg.: E. Dezfulian.

TABLE. 1. Comparison of the diagnostic characters of Myrmeleon species in Iran.