DENDROLEONTINI BANKS 1899

Miller, Robert B. & Stange, Lionel A., 2012, The cave mouth antlions of Australia (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae), Insecta Mundi 2012 (250), pp. 1-65 : 8

TRIBE DENDROLEONTINI BANKS 1899

Distribution. Afrotropical; Palaearctic; Oriental; Australian; Nearctic.

Discussion. The genera of this tribe were reviewed by Stange (1976) with further information on the rich Australian fauna provided by New (1985). Stange and Miller (1990) and Stange (1994) have further defined the tribe on the basis of larval characters. The larvae have a tuft of setae on the mesoscutum which holds a debris ball. Some of the Australian Dendroleontini (Subtribe Periclystina ) have this structure further elaborated by having the setae much longer and united basally in a stalk. Also, the mandibles in many genera of Dendroleontini are upturned slightly. This mandibular modification is probably co-adapted with the mesoscutal setal “lure”. However, most of the cave mouth dwelling Dendroleontini do not have the mesoscutal setal lure. One very large species (probably Glenoleon species ) with the typical mesoscutal lure structure and upturned mandibles was found in northern Queensland (Slaty Creek) but not reared and remains unknown. This species had dark larvae living in Zone 3 and were large, fast diggers. They were found in 1989 by Miller but were not present when Miller and Stange returned to this cave in 2005. One possible reason was that the large amount of dermestid larvae that were feeding on a dead kangaroo body and bat guano were not present, especially since the bats had left. One species of Glenoleon Banks ( G. pulchellus ) was found in a cave and has the mesoscutal setal lure. However, the species of the other genera lack the mesoscutal lure structure and do not have upturned mandibles and consequently their phylogenetic relationships are not clear. These three genera may represent an early line of evolution of the Dendroleontini before the acquisition of the mesoscutal “lure” or perhaps, as probably in the case of the Oriental genus Gatzara Navás , have lost the lure in response to habitat adaptation. These three genera are Froggattisca Esben-Petersen and two new genera to be described. A new morphological and taxonomic structure is described. This is called Miller’s organ ( Figures 17, 21) which is a small glandular-like structure on the metathorax and abdominal sternite I.