Nallachius spp.

Bowles, David E., Contreras-Ramos, A, Mariza & Ferro, Michael L., 2015, New distributional records for pleasing lacewings (Neuroptera: Dilaridae, Nallachius spp.) in the Americas, Insecta Mundi 2015 (406), pp. 1-10 : 7-8

Nallachius spp.

The specimens indicated here were labelled as Nallachius bruchi Navás by another researcher. The female lectotype, and only known specimen, of this species is from Alta Garcia, Córdoba Province, Argentina. Navás (1923) did not illustrate N. bruchi and the description is considered inadequate ( Adams 1970). Since Córdoba Province is located south of Tucumán Province and separated by Santiago del Estero Province, we presume the identifier made the assumption that the specimens shown here must be N. bruchi . Based on the characters presented for this species by Adams (1970) and the redescription of the female lectotype by Monserrat (2005), the specimens we examined do not appear to be N. bruchi . The specimens in alcohol were badly faded, but wing venation could be discerned. In the forewing, MP 2 and CuA were not fused. Nearly all coastal veinlets were unforked except for one specimen, which had a couple of forked veinlets. The male antennae had 10–11 elongate processes. One of the pinned males was missing genitalia, and the specimens in alcohol would not clear entirely. The male genitalia are most similar to that of Nallachius dicolor Adams , but that species currently is known only from Brazil ( Adams 1970, Machado and Rafael 2010). However, N. dicolor has been collected from Santa Catarina, Brazil, which shares a border with Argentina suggesting that this species also may occur there. While we cannot entirely rule out the previous identifier’s assessment that these specimens represent N. bruchi , we do not feel that a species name can be assigned to this material in its present condition.

ARGENTINA: Tucumán [ Prov. ], 430 m, 1.x.1966, W. Weyrauch, light, 1 male ( FSCA) ; same, but Rio (E) Cajon , 11.vi.1972., Acacia [rest of hand-written label illegible], 1 male ( FSCA) ; same, but Raco , 30-xii-1973, L. Stange, 1 female ( FSCA) ; same, but 11 km W. Las Cejas, 7.iii.1967, L. Stange, 2 males (in alcohol) ( FSCA) ; same, but 9-iii-11.iv.1968, Malaise Trap, 1 male (in alcohol) ( FSCA) ; same, but El Soledad , 6-20.x.1966, L. Stange, Malaise trap, 3 males, 1 female (in alcohol) ( FSCA) .

We also examined a single female specimen of Nallachius collected from a different location in Argentina. In addition to the primary locality label, a second label on the specimen pin placed above the location label was printed on red paper with the hand-written words “emergido [emerged] 14.i.2000, árbol seco en pie” [standing dry tree], Celtis tala Gill [et]. The former date also suggests the year on the locality label was 3.xi.1999. This is a relatively large specimen with a forewing length of 5.5 mm. In the forewing, the MP 2 vein is not fused with the CuA vein, and there are six large brown spots in the coastal area and smaller spots scattered over the remainder of the wing. Most of the distal costal veinlets are simple. These characteristics are consistent with those of N. dicolor . Given that this specimen was collected in Northwestern Argentina, it either represents a range extension of N. dicolor , or possibly an undescribed species.

ARGENTINA: La Rioja [Prov.], Los Molinos, 3.xi.19[?]9, DiLorio O. leg., 1 female ( FSCA).