Chrysacanthia Lacroix

Winterton, Shaun L. & Brooks, Stephen J., 2015, Review of the green lacewing genus Chrysacanthia Lacroix with a new species from Nigeria (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae), ZooKeys 517, pp. 71-81 : 73

Taxon classification Animalia Neuroptera Chrysopidae

Chrysacanthia Lacroix

Chrysacanthia Lacroix, 1923: 120. Type species: Chrysacanthia esbeniana Lacroix, 1923: 121, by monotypy.

Nesochrysa Fraser, 1951: 29. Type species: Nesochrysa varicella Fraser, 1951: 29, by monotypy.

Xanthochrysa Yang & Yang, 1991: 207. Type species: Xanthochrysa hainana Yang & Yang, 1991: 207, by monotypy.

Diagnosis.

Small to medium sized lacewings: forewing length: 14-17 mm; hindwing length: 12-14 mm. Wings with dark markings, particularly on forewing; four rings of setae on flagellomeres; palpi rounded apically; pronotum relatively broad; Sc and R widely separated; Sc terminating well before wing apex; cell im short, broad and ovate (not quadrangular); m2 relatively short; gradates in two series; inner gradate series meeting Psm; male veins not crassate basally; c1 1.5-2.0 times length of c2; abdomen whitish-coloured, sternite 7 dark, tergites 4-8 polished black-brown; male 9th tergite+ectoproct yellowish-brown, lacking elongate processes; parameres elongate, extending beyond apex of abdomen; gonarcus broad with elongate gonocornua; gonosaccus with a few dispersed gonosetae; female sternite 7 with posteromedial swelling; praegenitale distinct on sternite 7.

Included species.

Chrysacanthia esbeniana Lacroix, Chrysacanthia hainana (Yang); Chrysacanthia varicella (Fraser); Chrysacanthia iwo sp. n.

Distribution.

Afrotropical: Nigeria, Madagascar; Oriental: China, India, Thailand.

Comments.

Chrysacanthia is a distinctive genus is easily recognized by the dark head and thorax, with cream-coloured abdomen with black tergites posteriorly, and dark markings on the wings (Figs 1-3). Fewer than 10 specimens of this genus have been collected and the four species described are disparately distributed throughout the Oriental and Afrotropical regions. In the Afrotropical region Oyochrysa Brooks is superficially similar with extensive wing and body markings, but it is larger with distinctly different male genitalia.