Nusalala peruana, Aspöck & Aspöck & Gruppe, 2020

Aspoeck, Ulrike, Aspoeck, Horst & Gruppe, Axel, 2020, Anchored between heaven and earth - a new flightless brown lacewing from Peru (Neuroptera, Hemerobiidae), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2), pp. 141-149 : 141

Nusalala peruana sp. nov. Figs 1-3 , 4-7 , 8-11 , 12-16

Diagnosis.

The new species can be differentiated from most other species of Nusalala Navás, 1913, by the following combination of characters: Forewings coriaceous and domed, covering legs and body (Figs 1 , 2 , 4-6 ); hindwings long and ribbon-like in the male (Fig. 7 ), micropterous and scale-like in the female (Figs 12 , 13 ). Venation in both wings reduced and partly vestigial in both sexes. The coriaceous forewings differentiate N. peruana sp. nov. from all other Nusalala species, except N. andina Penny & Sturm, 1984, and N. brachyptera Oswald, 1997. The males of the latter two species have scale-like (not ribbon-like) hindwings. The female of N. andina is unknown. Oswald (1996) [1997] mentioned a female Nusalala which he tentatively identified as N. brachyptera due to similar wing modifications.

Description of male holotype and male paratypes

(Figs 1 - 11 ). Head blackish-brown; frons, labrum and genae polished, without pilosity; occiput covered with golden brownish setae. Antennae with broad cylindrical scapus, slim cylindrical pedicellus, 40-45 moniliform flagellomeres, apically darker. Compound eyes dark, relatively small.

Thorax: Pronotum shield-like, blackish-brown, with dense brownish pilosity. Legs brownish, only tarsalia yellowish. Each leg with two simple apical claws.

Forewings with significant concavo-convexity, heavily domed, length of domed wings 3.6 mm, length of spread (flattened) wing 3.8 mm, width 1.9 mm, coriaceous, suboval, apically slightly tapered; densely covered with short hairs; colouration spotted brownish with white markings and a brownish stripe in the middle of the wing, which is proximally accompanied by a whitish stripe; colouration, however, extremely variable. Venation variable and irregularly reduced in some specimens. Costal space proximally broad, veins irregularly connected with small interjacent veins, no pterostigma discernible; subcostal space with a few irregular cross veins; radius with 3-5 radial branches; gradate series of radial space not clearly discernible; bases of radius and media fused; venation of median, cubital and anal spaces not clearly ascertainable. Hindwings ribbon-like, length 2.7 mm, width 0.4 mm, with a short, oblique subcosta (?) basally. Longitudinal veins branched, cross veins absent.

Male genitalia (Figs 8-11 ): Tergite 9 divided into a pair of hemitergites, ventrolaterally connected with ectoproct and strongly sclerotised with a broad cephalic apodeme; ectoprocts basally strongly sclerotised, with blunt terminal process. Rosette of trichobothria reduced to a single trichobothrium. Gonocoxites 9 forming broad discs, dorsally fused by a small sclerotised bridge, laterally with two processus, the upper one representing the gonapophyses 9; the fused gonostyli 9 impressively shaped into a long, ventrally directed hook; gonocoxites 10 basally fused to an unpaired sclerite, terminally bilobed, connected with paired and slightly domed sclerites which are addressed as modified gonapophyses 10; hypandrium internum large and ordinarily shaped.

Description of the female paratype (Figs 12-16 ). Length of the domed forewing approximately 3.2 mm, width 1.9 mm. Habitus similar to male, but specimen in poor condition, only right forewing preserved, left forewing missing. Hindwing scale-like (Fig. 13 ).

Female genitalia (Figs 15 , 16 ): Sternite 7 inconspicuous; tergite 8 reaching beyond spiraculum; gonocoxites 8 fused to a small strongly sclerotised sclerite (subgenitale); paired small ovoid internal sclerites are interpreted as the highly-reduced gonapophyses 8; tergite 9 small, dorsally divided, ventrolaterally broadened; gonocoxites 9 ovoid, connected with tiny (reduced) sclerites which are interpreted as gonapophyses 9; ectoproct dorsally divided, with a single trichobothrium.

Glandular systems, as described and figured in Monserrat (2000), could not be found in the single available female specimen.

Material studied.

13 males: Holotype and paratypes.

Holotype and 1 male paratype: " PERU. CA. Hualgayoc , 6°46'14.74"S, 78°37'30.45"W, 3851 m alt., 7-14.iX.2017, L. Figueroa leg.";

1 male paratype: " PERU. CA. Hualgayoc , 6°45'31.05"S, 78°37'19.85"W, 3997 m alt., 7-14.iX.2017, L. Figueroa leg." ; 1 male paratype: " PERU. CA. Hualgayoc , 6°45'58.78"S, 78°37'33.88"W, 3968 m alt., 19.-26.Vii.2018, L. Figueroa leg." ; 1 male paratype: " PERU. CA. Hualgayoc , 6°45'22.93"S, 78°37'28.45"W, 3875 m alt., 19.-26.Vii.2018, L. Figueroa leg." ; 4 males paratypes: " PERU. CA. Hualgayoc , 6°45'50.05"S, 78°39'6.20"W, 3790 m alt., 22.-27.Vii.2019, P. Sánchez leg." ; 1 male paratype: " PERU. CA. Hualgayoc , 6°45'50.05"S, 78°39'6.20"W, 3790 m alt., 15.-20.iii.2019, P. Sánchez leg." ; 1 male paratype: " PERU. CA. Hualgayoc , 6°45'42.15"S, 78°38' 54.39"W, 3756 m alt., 15.-20.iii.2019, P. Sánchez leg." ; 1 male paratype: " PERU. CA. Hualgayoc , 6°45'22.93"S, 78°37'28.45"W, 3875 m alt., 22.-27.Vii.2019, P. Sánchez leg." ; 1 male paratype: " PERU. CA. Hualgayoc , 6°46'55.48"S, 78°37'45.29"W, 3805 m alt., 22.-27.Vii.2019, P. Sánchez leg."

1 female paratype: " PERU. CA. Hualgayoc , 6°45'50.05"S, 78°39'6.20"W, 3790 m alt., 7.-14.iX.2017, L. Figueroa leg."

Holotype male, 7 paratypes (6 males, 1 female) will be deposited in coll. Museo de Historia Natural Lima, 3 male paratypes in coll. Bavarian State Collection of Zoology , Munich and 3 male paratypes in coll. Natural History Museum, Vienna.

Distribution.

Currently known only from the type locality in the province of Hualgayoc, Cajamarca region, Peru.

Ecology.

The specimens were collected in a Puna grassland (Figs 17-19 ). Altitudes of findings range from 3756 m to 3997 m, time of collecting from March to September in the years 2017 to 2019. The specimens were collected around the mine Cerro Corona within an area of 3 km × 3.5 km; the collecting protocol included pitfall and yellow pan traps; however, the specimens were found solely in the yellow pan traps.

Etymology.

Nusalala peruana = Peruvian, adjective, feminine. The epithet is an adjective apposition to the genus Nusalala (feminine).

Figures

Figures 1 - 3. Nusalala peruana sp. nov., holotype, male. 1. habitus, dorsal; 2. habitus, lateral; 3. head frontal.

Figures 4 - 7. Nusalala peruana sp. nov., paratype, male (from Hualgayoc). 4. habitus, dorsal; 5. habitus, ventral; 6. right forewing (broken by spreading under cover glass); 7. metathorax with hindwings (spread under cover glass).

Figures 8 - 11. Nusalala peruana sp. nov., paratype, male (from Hualgayoc). 8. genital sclerites, lateral; 9. genital sclerites, ventral; 10. genital sclerites, lateral, partly dissected; 11. genital sclerites, dorsal, partly dissected; e - ectoproct; gp 10 - gonapophysis 10; gst 9 - fused gonostyli 9; gx 9 - gonocoxite 9; gx 10 - partly fused gonapophyses 10; hi - hypandrium internum; S - sternite; T - tergite.

Figures 12 - 16. Nusalala peruana sp. nov., paratype, female (from Hualgayoc). 12. habitus, dorsal with right forewing (left forewing missing) and left scale-like hindwing; 13. scale-like left hindwing; 14. head, frontal; 15. genital sclerites, lateral; 16. genital sclerites, ventral; e - ectoproct; gp 8 - gonapophysis 8; gp 9 - gonapophysis 9; gx 8 - fused gonocoxites 8; gx 9 - gonocoxite 9; T - tergite; tr - trichobothrium.

Figures 17 - 19. Type locality of Nusalala peruana sp. nov. 17 - landscape; 18, 19 - microhabitat with yellow pans in which Nusalala peruana sp. nov. was trapped.