Megagonoleon lulinguensis (New, 1985)

Machado, Renato Jose Pires & Oswald, John David, 2020, Morphological phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the former antlion subtribe Periclystina (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae: Dendroleontinae), Zootaxa 4796 (1), pp. 1-322 : 215-219

Megagonoleon lulinguensis (New, 1985) , new combination

( Figs. 108–110 )

http://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/ EF4CC8C1-C260-4F51-A21E-778A46380221

Austrogymnocnemia lulinguensis New, 1985:21 (OD); New 1996:68 (cat); Stange 2004:99 (cat); Oswald 2018 (cat).

Diagnosis. Forewing mediocubital area entirely dark brown; hind wing with longitudinal brown lines; tibial spurs absent; female lateral gonapophysis about the same size as ectoproct; female posterior gonapophysis without cavisetae; male mediuncus mostly membranous with a central sclerotized triangle.

Description. Lengths: forewing: 24–28 mm; hind wing: 20–26 mm.

Head ( Figs. 108 a–b): Labrum pale, set with a line of elongate setae. Clypeus pale, with some elongate black setae. Frons beneath antennae pale, remaining areas dark brown; covered with short white setae. Gena pale. Vertex raised; in anterior view pale, with five rounded dark spots forming a transverse line medially; in dorsal view mostly pale with two central perpendicular dark lines and two dark marks posterolaterally; covered with short black setae. Ocular setae absent. Antennae clubbed; elongate,> 3x length of pronotum; distance between antennae wider than scape width; brown with distal margin of segments pale; torular membrane pale; flagellomeres almost as long as wide at base, apical ones much wider than long; all segments set with short black setae. Mandibles pale, with tip black. Palpi, maxillary and labial pale with irregular brown marks; apical labial palpomere fusiform, palpimacula opening oval-shaped, located medially.

Thorax ( Fig. 108b ): Pronotum about as long as wide; posterior margin as wide as anterior; subapical furrow present; mostly pale but with a broad medial dark brown line, enclosing a thin pale line in some specimens; two pale longitudinal lines around the midline; and two lateral dark lines; beset with short white setae and some long white setae on the borders. Mesonotum mostly grey with two longitudinal pale lines around the midline of all segments, central area of scutellum dark grey; covered with short white setae. Metanotum dark brown with irregular pale marks medially; set with short white setae. Pterothoracic pleura grey; covered with white setae; Miller’s organ present.

Wings ( Fig. 108c ): Rather narrow with tip acute; anterior Banksian line present in both wings, posterior absent; veins mostly brown, but some veins intercalated with white spots, beset with short black setae. Male pilula axillaris present. Forewing membrane mostly hyaline, but mediocubital area entirely dark brown, and a dark brown line on poststigmal area and other at anterior margin, area beneath mediocubital area surrounding gradate crossveins light brown; pterostigma white; CuA fork located between RP origin and first fork; three presectoral crossveins; subcostal veinlets simple; posterior area about same size of prefork area. Hind wing membrane mostly hyaline except for two longitudinal light brown lines, one beneath MP and other surrounding gradate crossveins; pterostigma mostly brown with apex white; forks near posterior margin brown shaded; MP fork located between RP origin and first fork, but closer to RP origin; subcostal veinlets simple; one presectoral crossvein.

Legs ( Figs. 108 a–b): All pairs of legs, femur elongate (near twice longer than coxa); tibia and tarsi about same size, but slightly shorter than femur; tibial spurs absent; T3 and T4 about same size, T2 slightly longer than T3, T1 and T5 about same size but twice longer than T2; claws slightly longer than half of T5 length; coxa, trochanter and femur set with short white setae; femur, tibia and tarsi set with short black setae, and scattered long setae; T5 ventrally with two rows of thick, long, black setae. Proleg sense hair absent; tibia with antennal cleaning setae ventroapically; coxa grey with internal surface pale, remaining segments pale, but femur apex dark. Mesoleg with colour pattern similar of proleg. Metaleg with femur, tibia and T1 slightly longer than in other legs; colour pattern similar to anterior legs.

Abdomen: All sclerites grey but pleura pale; covered with short white setae.

Male Terminalia ( Figs. 109 a–d): Ectoproct posterior margin rounded in lateral view; set with elongate black setae. 9 th sternite short, with posterior margin concave medially in ventral view; set with elongate black setae. Genitalia with a large membranous sac ventrally. Gonarcus in dorsal view simple and arched, in lateral view anterior margin extending downwards, in posterior view with a lateral extension. Mediuncus mostly membranous, with a central sclerotized triangle. Paramere short, with tip acute and curving upwards in lateral view.

Female Terminalia ( Figs. 109 e–f): Ectoproct posterior margin rounded, set with thin elongate setae and some cavisetae ventrally. Lateral gonapophyses rounded, about same size as ectoproct, beset with cavisetae. 9 th tergite in lateral view with few elongate cavisetae and a ventral membranous digitiform process. 7 th sternite elongate, with distal margin rounded in ventral view, with a small central concavity where the pregenital plate fits; covered with short black setae. Pregenital plate small and rounded in ventral view. Posterior gonapophyses thin, elongate, covered with black setae. Anterior gonapophyses absent. Ventral membrane gonapophyseal plates present.

Distribution ( Fig. 110 ). Australia: NT, QLD, SA*, WA. Widespread across northern mainland Australia, with an outlier in southern South Australia.

Adult activity period. Records for July to November, and April; perhaps primarily an unusual winter to early spring emerging species.

Biology. Unknown, larva unknown.

Name-bearing type. Austrogymnocnemia lulinguensis : Holotype (by original designation), female, ANIC, examined. Type locality: Australia, Western Australia, Lulingui station. From original description: “ Holotype, ♀, Western Australia, W. Kimberley, Lulingui Station, near Derby, 26.viii.1929, I. M. Mackerras and T. G. Campbell ( ANIC)”. Condition: good, terminalia dissected.

Additional material examined (9♂, 29♀). AUSTRALIA: Northern Territory: 50 km SE of Kununurra : 16 o 04’26’’S– 129 o 05’20’’E, 12.iv.1998, M.V., JD Oswald (1♂, FSCA, 1♂, TAMU) ; Gorge WH: between Hatches Creek and Elkedra , at light, 7.x.1977, J. A. Forrest (1♀ PT, SAMA) ; Kings Canyon : 19.ix.2005, R. Miller & L. Stange (1♀, FSCA) ; Leila Lagoon: McArthur Station , ix.1977 (1♀, SAMA) ; 4 mi WSW of Victoria River Downs , 15.viii.1973, L. P. Kelsey (1♀, ANIC) ; Queensland: Chillagoe : x.1965 (1♂, ANIC) ; Kundala : (1♂, 1♀, MVM) ; Norman : v.1980 (2♂, 1♀, ANIC) ; Townsville : ix.1967, PW. Holbeach (1♂ PT, MVM) ; South Australia: Maryvale Homestead : x.1989 (1♀, SAMA) ; Western Australia: Blackstone : x.2006 (1♀, SAMA) ; Kiwirrkurra IPA: Visitor Center , 22.81979 oS– 127.76564 oE, 430m, 12.ix.2015, N. Tatarnic (1♀, WAM) ; Lansdowne Station : vii.1964 (3♀, ANIC) ; viii.1964 (1♀, ANIC) ; Louisa : 24 km W, x.1960 (1♀, FSCA) ; Lulingui Station : viii.1929 (2♀, ANIC, 1♀, ANIC) ; Millstream : x.1970 (2♂, 4♀, ANIC) ; xi.1970 (8♀, ANIC) ; 0.5 km E of Pungkulpirri Waterhole, Walter James Rg, 24 o 39’15’’S– 128 o 45’18’’E, 26.ix.2006, at light, Central Ranges Sur. Camp 1 (1♂, SAMA) .

Comments. We confirm here New’s (1985b) observation that the foreing markings in this species vary considerably in intensity. Figure 108c shows a heavily marked specimen. In other specimens the line in the forewing poststigmal area is very reduced, and/or the brown shading beneath the dark forewing mediocubital area is lacking. Megagonoleon lulinguensis can be distinguished from congeners by its forewing marks, particularly the dark brown mediocubital area. The general structure of the male terminalia is also diagnostic. For phylogenetic relationships see Fig. 4 .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Strict consensus tree of morphology-based parsimony analysis of species belonging to the former subtribe Periclystina (ingroup, names in black), and outgroups (names in red). Former Glenoleon species are shown on blue branches, former Austrogymnocnemia species on green branches. Numbers above branches are Bremer support values; numbers below branches are bootstrap values (shown where>50%).

FIGURE 108. Megagonoleon lulinguensis: a) head, anterior; b) head and thorax, dorsal; c) wings, dorsal.

FIGURE 109. Megagonoleon lulinguensis: male: a) terminalia, lateral; b) genitalia, lateral; c) genitalia, posterior; d) 9th sternite, ventral; female: e) terminalia, lateral; f) 7th sternite and pregenital plate, ventral. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 110. Distribution of Megagonoleon species (part).