Riekoleon furcatus New, 1985

Machado, Renato Jose Pires & Oswald, John David, 2020, Morphological phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the former antlion subtribe Periclystina (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae: Dendroleontinae), Zootaxa 4796 (1), pp. 1-322 : 297-300

Riekoleon furcatus New, 1985

( Figs. 153 , 158–159 )

Riekoleon furcatus New, 1985:76 (OD); New 1996:93 (cat); Stange 2004:108 (cat); Oswald 2018 (cat).

Diagnosis. Legs elongate; wings narrow and with numerous brown marks; tibial spurs reaching apex of T2; body mostly brown; pronotum with short black setae; male ectoproct ventrally elongate with a tubular poteroventral lobe.

Description. Lengths: forewing: 21–24 mm; hind wing: 19–22 mm.

Head ( Figs. 158 a–b): Labrum pale with central area dark in most specimens, set with a line of elongate setae. Clypeus pale with a narrow central longitudinal dark brown line, margin between clypeus and frons dark brown in some specimens; set with some elongate white setae. Frons ventral margin pale with a thin central longitudinal dark brown line, remaining areas dark brown; covered with short white setae. Gena pale. Vertex anteriorly pale to yellow posteriorly dark brown; covered with short black setae. Ocular setae absent. Antennae clubbed; elongate, about twice longer than pronotum; distance between antennae wider than scape width; scape mostly pale, pedicel and most flagellomeres brown with a pale ring at distal margin, three to four subapical flagellomeres pale, but apex entirely dark brown; torular membrane pale; flagellomeres almost as long as wide at base, apical ones much wider than long; all segments set with short black setae, except for scape and pedicel with short white setae. Mandible pale, with tip darker. Palpi, maxillary and labial pale with distal segments brown, with some irregular brown marks in some specimens; apical labial palpomere fusiform, palpimacula opening oval-shaped, located medially.

Thorax ( Fig. 158b ): Pronotum longer than wide; posterior margin wider than anterior; subapical furrow present; mostly pale except for some dark brown areas as follows: lateral margins up to furrow, a narrow sagittal line (in most specimens extending up to furrow but reaching anterior margin in some specimens), small rounded spots at setal base; beset with short black setae, few long black, and pale setae on borders. Mesonotum mostly dark brown with pale areas as follows: two square marks on prescutum (fused, forming large rectangle in some specimens), two large pale marks, enclosing a longitudinal dark line, near midline and a rounded spot at wings base at scutum, two posterior triangular marks at scutellum; covered with short black setae. Metanotum mostly dark brown with lateral pale marks, set with few short black setae. Pterothoracic pleura dark brown dorsally and covered with short black setae; ventrally pale and covered with white setae; Miller’s organ present.

Wings ( Fig. 158c ): Rather narrow with tip acute; anterior Banksian line present in both wings, posterior absent; veins mostly dark brown, but some veins intercalated with white spots, beset with short black setae. Male pilula axillaris present. Forewing membrane mostly hyaline but with numerous irregular brown marks as follows: larger marks at end of prefork area, near pterostigma (with apex white), and gradate crossveins; and many small marks at posterior margin, base of costal and subcostal area, apex, radial, presectoral, and mediocubital crossveins; CuA fork located between RP origin and first fork; three presectoral crossveins with distal ones connected by longitudinal crossveins in some specimens; subcostal veinlets mostly simple but few forked; posterior area thinner than prefork area. Hind wing membrane mostly hyaline except for two large brown marks, one at rhegmal area and other at hypostigmatic cell, and some small brown marks distal to pterostigma, and inferior margin apically; pterostigma white; MP fork located near RP origin; subcostal veinlets simple; one presectoral crossvein.

Legs ( Figs. 158 a–b): All pairs of legs, femur elongate (> 3.5x length of coxa); tibia slightly longer than femur but more than twice longer than tarsi; tibial spurs extending to T2 apex; T2, T3 and T4 about same size, T1 slightly longer than T2, and T5 twice longer than T1; claws about half of T5 length; coxa, trochanter, and femur set with short white setae; femur, tibia and tarsi set with black setae, and scattered long ones. Proleg sense hair absent; tibia with antennal cleaning setae ventroapically; coxa pale with irregular dark brown marks externally, trochanter pale, femur mostly dark brown with a pale line at ventral surface (restricted to basal region for most specimens but longer in some specimens), tibia dark brown with a basal pale ring; tarsi dark brown. Mesoleg with colour pattern similar to proleg, except for femur generally paler. Metaleg with femur and tibia slightly longer than in mesoleg; colour pattern similar to mesoleg, except for tibia pale with tip dark brown, and femur paler.

Abdomen: Mostly black with scattered pale marks, mainly on medial and lateral areas, but entirely black in some specimens. Beset with short black setae.

Male Terminalia ( Figs. 159 a–c): Ectoproct with posteroventral margin extended, in lateral view; set with elongate black setae. 9 th sternite short, with posterior margin elongate medially in ventral view; covered with elongate black setae. Gonarcus large, thin, and “C” shaped in lateral view, with dorsal region narrower. Mediuncus absent. Paramere elongate longitudinally, with tip acute, base divided into two lobes and curving upwards in lateral and posterior view. Dorsal region of paramere and gonarcus connected by a membrane.

Female Terminalia ( Figs. 159 d–e): Ectoproct posterior margin rounded covered with thin elongate setae. Lateral gonapophyses rounded, much smaller than ectoproct, set with some elongate setae, and few short and thickened setae ventrally. 7 th sternite small, with distal margin rounded in ventral view; covered with long black setae. Pregenital plate weakly sclerotized almost indistinguishable but small and rectangular in ventral view. Posterior gonapophyses broad, long, covered with many long black setae and many cavisetae apically. 9 th tergite with a broad membranous digitiform process. Anterior gonapophyses a large plate covered with long setae. Ventral membrane gonapophyseal plates absent.

Distribution ( Fig. 153 ). Australia: NSW*, QLD. Known from scattered records in eastern Australia; a distinctly eastern species.

Adult activity period. Records for October to February, and April.

Biology. Unknown, larva unknown.

Name-bearing type. Riekoleon furcatus : Holotype (by original designation), male, ANIC, examined. Type locality: Australia, Queensland, Electra State Forest . From original description: “ Holotype, ♂, Queensland, Electra S.F., c. 25 km S. Bundaberg, November 1976, H. Frauca ( ANIC)”. Condition: good; terminalia dissected.

Additional material examined (9♂, 15♀). AUSTRALIA: New South Wales: Deriah State Forest : 30.22S– 149.59E, 21.xi.1997, E.D. Edwards (1♀, ANIC, 1♀, FSCA) ; Ebenezer : 33 o 50.706’S– 151 o 10.857’E, 19.xii.1998, J.C. Keast (1♀, ANIC) ; Wedderburn : 3 km E, 34 o 08’S– 150 o 49’E, 2.ii.2006, at MV light, Coll. D. Britton (1♀, AMSA) ; Queensland: Blackbutt Range foot: 13 km E of Blackbutt, 26: 53.3S– 152: 12.8E, 9.i.2002, Moulds, Hill et al. (2♂, 3♀, AMSA) ; Blackdown Tableland: Expedition Range , 17.i.1987, M.S. & B.J. Moulds (1♀, AMSA) ; Brisbane : xi.1943 (1♂, QMBA) ; xi.1990 (1♂, QMBA) ; Bunya Mountain : i.1940 (1♂, QMBA) ; Canungra: Curtis Property , 8 km SW, 9.i.1979, at light, K.J. & C.L. Lambkin (1♀, QMBA) ; Carnarvon National Park: Mount Mof- fat, 25 o 01’22’’S– 147 o 56’59’’E, 2.xii.1997, J Skevington, C Lambkin, S Evans (1♀, QMBA) ; Eidsvold : 25 o 19’S– 150 o 27’E, 16.i.1991, G & A Daniels, mv lamp (1♀, QMBA) ; Forty Mile Scrub : 65 km NW of Mount Garnet, 19.i.1977, M.S. & B.J. Moulds (1♂, PT R. convergens , AMSA) ; 55 km NNE of Injune , 23.xi.1986, M.S. & B.J. Moulds (1♀, AMSA) ; Mount Abbott : iv.1997 (1♂, QMBA) ; Nine Mile Creek : 14 km NNW of Miles, 24.i.1990, M.S. & B.J. Moulds (1♂, AMSA) ; Tamborine Mountain : xii.1992 (1♂, QMBA) ; Toowoomba : 9.xi.1983, I.F.B. Common & B. Hacobian (1♀, AMSA) ; 23.i.1993, S Winterton (1♀, QMBA) ; Yeppon : x.1924 (1♀, QMBA) .

Comments. One of the R. convergens paratypes (a male from Forty Mile Scrub, AMSA) was originally mis- identified and belongs to R. furcatus . These two species are very similar, including traits of the male and female terminalia, but they can be distinguished by the darker body colouration of R. furcatus (particularly the darker vertex, pterothorax and legs) and the presence in R. furcatus of a large hind wing rhegmal mark (absent in R. convergens ). For phylogenetic relationships see Fig. 4 .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Strict consensus tree of morphology-based parsimony analysis of species belonging to the former subtribe Periclystina (ingroup, names in black), and outgroups (names in red). Former Glenoleon species are shown on blue branches, former Austrogymnocnemia species on green branches. Numbers above branches are Bremer support values; numbers below branches are bootstrap values (shown where>50%).

FIGURE 153. Distribution of Riekoleon species (part).

FIGURE 158. Riekoleon furcatus: a) head, anterior; b) head and thorax, dorsal; c) wings, dorsal.

FIGURE 159. Riekoleon furcatus: male: a) terminalia, lateral; b) genitalia, lateral; c) genitalia, posterior; female: d) terminalia, lateral; e) terminalia, posteroventral (note pregenital plate hidden beneath sternite). Scale bars = 0.5 mm.