Xantholeon manselli, New, 1985

Miller, Robert B. & Stange, Lionel A., 2012, The cave mouth antlions of Australia (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae), Insecta Mundi 2012 (250), pp. 1-65 : 37-38

Xantholeon manselli New

( Figures 48 49, 50)

Xantholeon manselli New 1985c: 13 , figures 1126-1134. Holotype female, Carnarvon Mt., 80 km. north Injune , Queensland, M. Mansell (ANIC).

Diagnosis. Adult: length of body 24 to 27 mm; forewing 26 to 27 mm, hindwing 26 to 28 mm. Coloration: color pale grayish yellow; antenna yellowish brown, darker basally; club darker; labrum pale yellow, sometimes with minute central dark gray spot; clypeus predominantly black, with narrow median pale stripe; vertex predominantly pale, with narrow pale castaneous band, more extensive transverse posterior mark each side of midline; pronotum brown, traces of pale midline and of diagonal lines converging towards posterior midline; scutelli with weak brown markings; mesopleuron about same color as metapleuron with narrow dark brown margin anteriorly; abdomen with weak central darker brown markings on tergites, sternites dark brown; posterior half of abdominal tergites III-IV pale; wing with longitudinal veins pale, many crossveins black, pterostigma slightly differentiated in forewing with dark brown base; legs pale, with apex of femur, apex and annulus of tibia and apex of distal tarsomere with dark brown to black markings. Chaetotaxy: clypeus with long, dense white hairs; pronotum with short, pale setae, of which those anteriorly have dark bases; forefemoral sense hair more than three times as long as diameter of femur; leg setae mostly dark brown; male sternite IX without pale setae posteriorly; female ectoproct with about 6 short, ventrally thickened setae; female lateral gonapophysis with about 10 slightly thickened black setae, posterior gonapophysis with fringe of long pale hairs. Structure: antenna slender, most flagellomeres longer than wide, club well defined; pronotum longer than broad; wings slender, venation as in Figure 49; legs slender, hind basitarsus as long as or longer than distal tarsomere; tibial spurs slender, extending somewhat beyond apex of tarsomere II (foreleg and midleg), or to apex of hind tarsomere III; pretarsal claws about one-half length of tibial spurs; male ectoproct broad, gonarcus a shallow transverse arch, with enlarged ventrally directed lateral plates; parameres long, parallel, with a slight anteriodorsal angle, anterior membrane with short central setae; female lateral gonapophysis broad, posterior gonapophysis strongly tapered.

New records. AUSTRALIA. Queensland: Carnarvon Mt., 80 km. north Injune , Queensland, M. Mansell, reared (2m, FSCA; SANC) ; Crows Nest, Perseverance Dam, V. 1971 (1f, FSCA) .

Discussion. The abdominal markings are distinctive with dark brown sternites. Male genitalia of X. manselli are unusual and the female posterior gonapophysis is distinctive in the group by being much longer and more tapered than in other species.