Deleproctophylla australis (Fabricius, 1787)

Japaridze, Lasha-Giorgi, Makharadze, Giorgi, Rostiashvili, Ioane, Datunashvili, Anastasia & Dobosz, Roland, 2024, First barcode-assisted annotated checklist of owlflies (Neuroptera, Myrmeleontidae, Ascalaphidae) of Georgia with the first record of genus Deleproctophylla Lefebvre, 1842, Caucasiana 3, pp. 5-18 : 5

Deleproctophylla australis (Fabricius, 1787)

Material examined.

GEORGIA • 1♀ (Fig. 7 ); Tbilisi, Lisi lake vicinity; 41.7573°N, 44.7183°E; 677 m. a.s.l.; dry slope with xerophytic vegetation; leg. Makharadze G. and Rostiashvili I.; 2 Jul 2023; CaBOL-ID 1035917; JLGT.

Barcoding.

A single barcode was obtained from the specimen with CaBOL-ID: 1035917 (BOLD:AEG2372) with the nearest neighbor in BOLD Systems D. variegata (BOLD:AEG2372, p -distance 0.16%) from Azerbaijan (Nakhchivan, Ordubad) (Kherimova et al. 2022).

Remarks.

Deleproctophylla australis exhibits considerable variability, especially the wing pattern in individual populations, which often lacks front-wing spots, making it challenging to identify the species using the key in Aspöck et al. (1980). Generally, D. australis is significantly larger than the similar species Deleproctophylla variegata . Also, specimens of D. variegata collected in Kyrgyzstan, from the collections of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom are smaller. Deleproctophylla australis has extensive brownish-red spots on both wings below the pterostigma. It happens that the spot on the forewing is missing, but the spot on the hindwing remains always brownish red. The spots on the hind wing of D. variegata are darker brownish black (visibly darker than in D. australis ). Sometimes the wing is slightly smoky toward the base. There are also differences in the pattern of the pronotum and thorax. In the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom collection, the two species show considerable, in the case of the above features, differences. In D. variegata specimens from other regions, such as Kyrgyzstan or Afghanistan, the wing membrane is smokey and the specimens are a little darker than the others, but these are more just colour variations. In Georgia, both of the species are highly likely to occur.

Prior to our work, there were no barcodes for the properly identified D. australis in BOLD Systems (or in GenBank). We assume that the very small p -distance between D. australis and D. variegata might be attributed to the potential misidentification of the specimen whose molecular data were mined from GenBank. Such cases are not uncommon and require an individual approach to address the issue, considering the possibility that the observed morphological differences could be indicative of a single species with variations across isolated populations.

Deleproctophylla australis is an element of the Mediterranean fauna that has previously never been reported in the Caucasus region. The nearest known report of the species lies in Edirne, Turkey ( Popov 1977; Háva 2000; Canbulat 2007). Háva (2000), not knowing the publication by Alexi Popov, quotes the same specimens from the collection of the National Museum in Prague. In a European monograph of Neuropterida ( Aspöck et al. 1980) and a Catalog of Neuropterida of the Western Palearctic ( Aspöck et al. 2001) the authors incorrectly listed D. australis from Anatolia, which is a very broad geographical term, suggesting the occurrence of this species in almost the entire territory of Turkey, while it occurs in its European part near the border with Bulgaria. This species, most likely incorrectly, was recorded from the Caucasus and Middle Asia ( Zakharenko and Krivokhatsky 1993). This information is not commented on in any publications by Zakharenko, Krivokhatsky, or other authors. For species distribution within the country, see Fig. 12 .

Figures

Figures 12. The distributional map of Georgian owlflies (Ascalaphidae) discussed in the main text.

Figures 5 - 11. Images of preserved specimens of studied owlflies. 5 - 6: Bubopsis hamata (Klug, 1834), male and female; 7: Deleproctophylla australis (Fabricius, 1787), female; 8 - 9: Libelloides macaronius (Scopoli, 1763), male and female; 10 - 11: Libelloides ustulatus (Eversmann, 1850), male and female. Scale bars = 10 mm.