Puer Lefèbvre, 1842

Badano, Davide & Pantaleoni, Roberto Antonio, 2014, The Larvae of European Ascalaphidae (Neuroptera), Zootaxa 3796 (2), pp. 287-319 : 295

Puer Lefèbvre, 1842

Diagnosis. Head capsule one and a half times wider than long; antennae thin, longer than the ocular tubercles; ocular tubercles small, flattened, wider than long and forward directed; opening gap of the jaws larger than 180°; mandibles closely approximated at the insertion; mandibles narrow, armed with three pairs of teeth and with numerous pseudo-teeth; median tooth larger than the other teeth and closer to the apical tooth; base of the mandible covered with hair-like dolichasters; labial palpi four-articulated, segments 2–4 as long as the basal width of the mandible, last segment swollen; thorax provided with elongated and flattened scolus-like processes; mesothorax bearing two pairs of scolus-like processes of which the anterior ones are bent at 90°; metathorax with an anterior pair of large scolus-like processes and a posterior pair of very short tubercle-like processes; first pair of abdominal spiracles placed on the dorsal side, the following seven pairs on ventral side; abdomen with eight pairs of dorsal scolus-like setiferous processes, ventral series absent except a pair of tubercle-like setiferous processes on the first abdominal segment; VIII sternite without odontoid processes; IX sternite with two short rastra each bearing three digging setae ( Fig. 2C ); body thickly covered with short, pale dolichasters ( Fig. 3C ); long and thin dolichasters are present on the setiferous processes.

Examined species. P. maculatus (Olivier, 1789)

Comments. The genus Puer is exclusive of the Western Palaearctic Region, comprising two species: P. maculatus and P. algericus van der Weele, 1909 reported for South-Western Europe, North Africa and Middle East (U. Aspöck & H. Aspöck 1987; H. Aspöck et al. 2001; Badano & Pantaleoni 2012). The larva of this genus was exclusively treated by Hagen (1873) thought the validity of his account was questioned (H. Aspöck et al. 1980).

Figures

FIGURE 2. VIII and IX abdominal sternites of 3rd instar larva of Ascalaphidae. A, Ascalaphus festivus; B, Bubopsis agrionoides; C, Puer maculatus; D, Deleproctophylla australis; E, Libelloides macaronius. Scale bar: 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. Chaetotaxy of the VIII abdominal sternite of 3rd instar larva of Ascalaphidae. A, Ascalaphus festivus; B, Bubopsis agrionoides; C, Puer maculatus; D, Deleproctophylla australis; E, Libelloides longicornis. Scale bar: 100 µm.