Neopanorpa ocellaris ( Navás, 1908 )

Wang, Ji-Shen & Hua, Bao-Zhen, 2019, Taxonomy of the genus Neopanorpa van der Weele, 1909 (Mecoptera, Panorpidae) from the Oriental Region, with the description of two new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 543, pp. 1-17 : 9-12

Neopanorpa ocellaris ( Navás, 1908)

Figs 4–5

Panorpa ocellaris Navás, 1908: 417 , fig. 22 (type locality: Sikkim).

Neopanorpa ocellaris – Esben-Petersen 1921: 82 , fig. 92. — Rust and Byers 1976: 62, figs 79–80.

Diagnosis

This species is peculiar among its congeners by the wing markings ( Figs 4 , 5 A–B): all bands and spots intensively fused to each other to form a distinctive zigzag pattern, leaving several dentate hyaline spots along anterior and posterior margins, and an elliptical hyaline spot between pterostigmal and apical bands.

Material examined

CHINA – Guangxi • 1 ♂; Longzhou County, Nonggang ; 3 Jun.1980; Zhu-Yin Wang leg.; NWAU • 1 ♀; Ningming County, Longrui ; 200 m a.s.l.; 23 May 1984; Ji-Zhen Wang leg.; NWAU . – Guizhou, Libo County • 2 ♀♀; Dongdai ; 24 Apr. 2017; Ri-Xin Jiang & Zhuo-Heng Jiang leg.; NWAU • 2 ♂♂, 15 ♀♀; Bizuo ; 29 Apr. 2017; Ri-Xin Jiang & Zhuo-Heng Jiang leg.; NWAU • 1 ♂. 4 ♀♀; Shishangsenlin ; 25°17.25′ N, 107°56.35′ E; 700 m a.s.l.; 24 May 2018; Gui-Lin Hu & Ning Li. leg.; NWAU .

Description

Male

MEASUREMENTS. FL = 13.5–15.0 mm, FW = 3.0– 3.4 mm; HL = 12.0– 13.2 mm, HW = 2.8–3.2 mm.

HEAD ( Fig. 5D ). Vertex black. Rostrum dark reddish brown, with two dark stripes along clypeus. Maxillary and labial palps dark reddish brown with distal segment dark brown. Antennae black, flagellomeres 42–44.

THORAX ( Fig. 5A ). Pronotum black, with 10–16 stout setae along anterior margin. Meso- and metanotum black. Membranous area yellow. Pleura and coxae dark chestnut to black; femora and tibiae yellowish brown; tarsi blackish brown.

WINGS ( Fig. 5A ). Wing membrane hyaline, with well-developed dark brown markings; veins dark brown except whitish cross-veins in apical half; pterostigma brown. Forewing apical band very broad and fused to pterostigmal band anteriorly and posteriorly, forming elliptical hyaline spot; pterostigmal band broad, with basal branch approximately two times as wide as apical branch; marginal spot elongated posteriorly, fused with basal branch of pterostigmal band apically, and with basal band basally; basal band and spot completely fused, and forming broad irregular stripe extending to anal area; R 2 trifurcated. Hindwing similar to forewings in shape and venation, but basal band and spot slightly reduced.

ABDOMEN ( Fig. 5A, G ). A2–A8 with terga and sterna entirely dark chestnut to black, membranous area yellow to pale yellowish brown. Notal organ on posterior border of T3 triangular in basal half, fingerlike in distal half, and extending to middle portion of T4; postnotal organ on T4 blunt. A6 approximately 1.5 times as long as A5, slightly tapering toward truncated apex. A7 shorter than A6, evenly enlarged toward truncated apex; A8 shorter than A7, similar in shape but slightly beveled at apex.

GENITALIA ( Fig. 5C, F , H–K). Genital bulb dark reddish brown. Epandrium narrowing toward truncated apex, with small epandrial lobes. Hypandrium with broad basal stalk, and split into a pair of hypovalves at middle; hypovalves greyish brown, distinctly curled on lateral margin, and slightly overlapping on inner margin; hypandrial processes broad and rounded. Gonostylus shorter than gonocoxites, stout, with median tooth blunt triangular, and basal process subtrapezoidal; small triangular projection at base of basal process. Paramere blade-like, with membranous notch near base; slender dorsal bridge connected to base of lateral processes; basal stalk fused to form slightly sclerotized frame. Ventral aedeagal valves broad, laterally flattened with rounded apex; dorsal valves shorter than ventral valves; dorsal processes short and rounded; lateral processes short and blunt.

Female – redescription

Body coloration and patterns similar to those of males ( Figs 4 , 5B ).

MEASUREMENTS. FL = 13.8–15.2 mm, FW = 3.0– 3.4 mm; HL = 12.5–13.6 mm, HW = 2.9–3.2 mm.

GENITALIA ( Fig. 5 L–N). Subgenital plate oval, with several long setae on apical portion, and emarginate in V-shape apically. Medigynium with long, twisted and narrowly spatulate posterior arms; axis subtriangular with a pair of short and rounded apodemes basally.

Distribution

Sikkim; China: western Guangxi and southeastern Guizhou.

Comments

For more than a century, N. ocellaris has only been known from a single female (holotype) collected from Sikkim in 1890 by Harmand, housed in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris. The wings were illustrated by Navás (1908) and Esben-Petersen (1921), and the genitalia were dissected and illustrated by Rust & Byers (1976). Based on the wing markings and genital morphology, N. ocellaris resembles several Indochinese species ( Rust & Byers 1976), but differs from other species from Sikkim and adjacent regions from the Himalayas.

The specimens obtained from China match the holotype in morphology basically, excluding one considerable dissimilarity: in the holotype, the marginal spot is unconnected with the basal band posteriorly, by contrast, in new material in this research, almost all individuals have the marginal spot fused with basal band posteriorly ( Fig. 5 A–B). After careful examination of other characters, we treat this difference as an intraspecific variation. Neopanorpa ocellaris was published in the same article with N. cavaleriei ( Navás, 1908) , a species from Guizhou, China. In fact, N. ocellaris was found to be cohabitated with N. cavaleriei in Libo County , Guizhou (Ri-Xin Jiang, personal communication).

Figures

Fig. 4. Neopanorpa ocellaris (Navás, 1908), living female. The female is feeding on a dead crane fly. Photo by Wei-Liang Xie from Huanjiang County, Guangxi Province, China.

Fig. 5. Neopanorpa ocellaris (Navás, 1908). A, C–K. Male. A. Habitus, dorsal view. C. Epandrium, dorsal view. D. Head, frontal view. E. T3 and T4, left-lateral view. F. Genital bulb, ventral view. G. Habitus, left-lateral view. H. Left gonostylus, ventral view. I. Epandrium and hypandrium, leftlateral view. J–K. Aedeagal complex, ventral and right-lateral views, respectively. – B, L–N. Female. B. Habitus, dorsal view. L. Subgenital plate, ventral view. M–N. Medigynium, ventral and right-lateral views, respectively.