Purenleon limeirai Machado, 2020

Machado, Renato Jose Pires & Tavares, Leon Gustavo de Miranda, 2020, Notes on the Brazilian species of Purenleon Stange (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae), with description of two new species, Insect Systematics & Evolution 51 (1), pp. 62-80 : 70-73

Purenleon limeirai Machado sp. n.

ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/ 5E512D86-A902-4B58-B1C1-9C03D9E19CCD

Diagnosis. Pronotum mostly yellow and set with few elongate white setae; mid tibia greatly swollen, much broader than foretibia; mid tibia yellow with small rounded dark marks; female sternite VII with posterolateral lobes; male mediuncus present; male paramere folding apically.

Description

Lengths: forewing: 23.2 mm; hind wing: 23.5 mm.

Head ( Fig. 7a ): Labrum yellow, with a line of elongate light brown setae. Clypeus yellow, set with some long white setae. Frons mostly dark brown, with inferior margin yellow and a small yellow mark medially behind the antennae; set with few short white setae. Gena yellow. Vertex raised; mostly yellow, with two dark brown transversal lines (an anterior and a medial); set with short black setae. Ocular rim with few short black setae. Antennae clavate; about three times longer than pronotum length; distance between antennae about the same size of scape width; flagellomeres about as long as wide, except by the ones at the apex, wider than long; scape, pedicel and basal flagellomeres with anterior surface yellow and posterior yellow with dark brown marks on the basal half, remaining flagellomeres dark brown with the apical margin yellow, except by a few subapical flagellomeres (almost entirely yellow); all segments set with short black setae. Mandible light brown with apex dark. Palpi, maxillary and labial yellow, except by the area surrounding the palpimacula, brown; apical labial palpomere fusiform, palpimacula oval-shaped, located medially.

Thorax ( Fig. 7d ): Pronotum about as long as wide; posterior margin about as wide as anterior margin; subapical furrow present; mostly yellow, with some dark brown areas: the lateral and anterior margins and four interrupted longitudinal lines; set with some long black setae. Mesonotum mostly yellow, with lateral margins of each segment dark brown, scutum with two thin dark brown longitudinal lines; set with some short black setae. Metanotum mostly dark brown, with a thin medial yellow line and scutum with two broad longitudinal yellow lines, posterior margin of scutellum yellow. Pterothoracic pleura mostly dark brown with pale yellow marks on each segment, which are particularly large in the ventral segments; set with long white setae.

Wings ( Fig. 7c ): Narrow with apex acute. Banksian lines absent in both wings. Veins intercalating dark brown and pale areas; beset with short black setae. Forewing membrane mostly hyaline with few small dark brown marks surrounding some of the gradate crossveins; seven presectoral crossveins; subcostal veinlets simple; prefork area larger than posterior area. Hind wing membrane hyaline with few small dark marks apically on the inferior margin; medial fork located between origins of Rs and MA; subcostal veinlets simple; one presectoral crossvein.

Legs ( Fig. 7b ): All pairs; tibia and femur about the same size and slightly longer than tarsi, (hind leg with tibia and femur much longer than tarsi); tibial spurs long, passing T4 apex in the fore and mid leg but only reaching T4 apex in the hind leg; spurs pale yellow with apical third brown; tarsomeres length: T1> T2, T2 = T3 = T4, T5 = T1-T4; claws about as long as T5 half and not capable of closing. Foreleg: sense hair longer than femur; segments set with short white or black setae and some long white setae, and a few long black setae on tibia; femur swollen; tibia slightly swollen with a antennal cleaning setae in most of ventral surface; all segments mostly yellow, but femur dorsal surface dark brown (except the base), femur and tibia with rounded dark brown marks at the base of the long setae, tibia and T5 apex dark brown. Mid leg similar to foreleg, except for dorsal surface of femur yellow, and tibia greatly swollen. Hind leg similar to mid leg except by sense hair absent, long setae mostly black, tibia not swollen and almost without rounded dark marks.

Abdomen: Tergites dark brown with some irregular yellow marks. Sternites yellow with few dark brown marks. Tergites set with short black setae, and sternites set with short white setae.

Male Terminalia ( Fig. 8 ): Ectoproct rounded in lateral view; set with elongate black setae. Sternite IX short, with posterior margin rounded in ventral view; covered with long black setae. Gonarcus as a simple arch. Mediuncus short, with apex rounded in posterior view. Paramere broad and elongate; in lateral and posterior view the apex folds up in a rounded, sclerotized and rough surface; the anterior area are fused and dorsally enlarged, but they are not fused medially.

Female Terminalia: unknown.

Etymology. The species is named after the great entomologist and friend Dr. Francisco Limeira de Oliveira, who collected the holotype and kindly allowed us to study it.

Distribution. This species is known only by the holotype from São João do Soter, Maranhão state, Brazil ( Fig. 11 ).

Holotype. male (present designation): CZMA: Brasil, Maranhão, São João do Sóter [5°05’23.6”S 43°48’54.2”W], Fazenda Brocos, 21–22.viii.1999, F. Limeira-de-Oliveira & J.T. Câmara, Arm. luminosa . Holotype with left antennae and mid leg missing, left hind wing and abdomen glued in a card beneath the specimen, wings’ apex and prothorax with some damage, terminalia dissected and stored in a micro vial with glycerin (pinned under the specimen).

Remarks. Purenleon limerai sp. n. clearly fits into the tibialis species group. It has all the characteristics of the group as defined by Miller & Stange (2014): mid tibia greatly swollen, much broader than foretibia and basitarsus of hind leg about twice as long as greatest diameter. Unfortunately, the female is unknown and the presence of the small lobes on the posterior margin of sternite VII, another major characteristic of the group, still needs confirmation. Purenleon limeirai sp. n. seems to be closely related to P. tibialis (only known from Colombia), their mostly yellow body color pattern is unique for these two species within the genus, but they can be clearly separated based on the shape of the male terminalia, as mentioned in the key below.

Although the species description is based on only one specimen, it is justified by its unique characteristics (especially in the male terminalia), which clearly distinguish Purenleon limeirai sp. n. from the other 3 species in the tibialis species group. Furthermore, the difficult access to the type locality hinders further opportunities to collect more specimens in a near future.

Figures

Fig. 7. Purenleon limeirai sp. n.: a) head, anterior view; b) mid tibia; c) wings; d) thorax, dorsal view. Scale bar = 1mm.

Fig. 8. Purenleon limeirai sp. n. male: a) terminalia, lateral view; b) genitalia, lateral view; c) genitalia, posteroventral view; d) genitalia, posterodorsal view. E = ectoproct; G = gonarcus; M = mediuncus; P = paramere; S = sternite; T = tergite. Scale bar = 0.5mm.

Fig.11. Distribution map of the species of Purenleon Stange recorded to Brazil. Map shows the records presented here and previously reported.