Neochauliodes truncatus Kimmins

Liu, Xingyue, Hayashi, Fumio & Yang, Ding, 2010, Revision of the fishfly genus Neochauliodes van der Weele (Megaloptera: Corydalidae) from India and adjacent regions of South Asia, Zootaxa 2692, pp. 33-50 : 45-48

Neochauliodes truncatus Kimmins

( Figures 7 , 35–39 )

Neochauliodes sinensis truncatus Kimmins, 1954: 440 . Type locality: India (Shillong).

Diagnosis. This species is characterized by a dark head, by the pronotum having a pair of dark vittae, and by its hyaline forewings with median transverse markings separated into several small spots. Males can be distinguished by the rather broad and subtrapezoidal median plate of the tenth sternum. Female ninth gonocoxite is foliate, acutely produced posteriad, and much broader but shorter than the tenth tergum.

Male. Body length 24–36 mm; forewing length 35–39 mm; hindwing length 32–35 mm.

Head dark, with clypeus yellowish brown ( Fig. 7 ). Compound eyes dark, ocelli yellow, medially margined black. Antennae black. Mouthparts yellowish brown; mandible with distal half reddish brown, maxillary and labial palpi with terminal segments brown.

Pronotum yellowish brown, laterally with a pair of brown vittae; meso- and metathorax pale brown, each with dark, longitudinal markings laterally. Legs dark with short, dense, yellowish brown setae; tarsal claws reddish brown. Wings ( Fig. 7 ) hyaline, with many brownish markings; pterostigmata short, pale. Forewing with a small brownish spots on proximal half of costal area, and with a long and a short brown stripe flanking the pterostigmata; other markings of small spots, isolated from each other, and respectively converged into proximal, median, and distal areas, with median spots slightly larger and more or less connected with each other, forming a transverse band that extends from R1 to Cu1. Hindwing similarly patterned, but with proximal half immaculate; median transverse band narrow and solid, extending from Sc to Cu1. Veins pale yellow, except for C, Sc, R1, proximal half of R2, and intercostal crossveins which are brown. Rs six-branched, with R4 and R5 strongly curved posteriorly in distal half; three crossveins between R1 and Rs.

Abdomen dark. Ninth tergum ( Fig. 35 ) narrowed and produced anteroventrad in lateral view. Tenth tergum ( Figs 35 ) in lateral view subtrapezoidal, arcuate on posterior and ventral margin, with posterodorsal corner roundly produced ( Fig. 37 ). Tenth sternum ( Figs 35–36 ) strongly sclerotized, lateral arms short and quadrate, connected with median plate by narrow strap; median plate in ventral view broadly rectangular with slightly concaved tip, its anteriorly margin incised V-shaped; median plate in lateral view spoon-shaped.

Female. Body length 20–39 mm; forewing length 35–48 mm; hindwing length 32–43 mm. Eighth sternum ( Figs 38–39 ) subtrapezoidal in lateral view, with posterior margin strongly produced and slightly concaved at tip in ventral view. Tenth tergum ( Fig. 38 ) short and stout, with posterodorsal corner slightly produced in lateral view. Ninth gonocoxite ( Fig. 38 ) much broader but shorter than tenth tergum, foliate, and acutely produced posteriad.

Type material. Holotype ɗ, INDIA: “Khasis; 5000 ft. Shillong, 15.VI.1928, Fletcher coll/ HoloType / Neochauliodes sinensis truncatus Kim [mins] ɗ D.E. Kimmins det. 1953./Abdomen in slide cabinet” (NHM). Allotype Ψ, INDIA: “Khasis; 5000 ft. Shillong, 14.VI.1928, Fletcher coll/Brit[ish]. Mus[eum]. 1934-X16. / AlloType/ Neochauliodes sinensis truncatus Kim [mins] Ƥ D.E. Kimmins det. 1953./Abdomen in slide cabinet” (NHM). Paratype 1Ψ, INDIA: “Khasis 5000 ft Shillong 13.VI.1928, Fletcher coll/ Paratype / Neochauliodes sinensis truncatus Kim [mins] D.E. Kimmins det. 1953.” (NHM).

Additional material. INDIA: 2ɗ, Meghalaya, Shillong, 15.VI.1928, B. Fletcher Coll. (NHM); 1Ψ, Sikkim, Chasseurs Indigenes, R.P. Breiaudeau, 1894 (NHM); MYANMAR: 1Ψ, Mandalay, Anisakan N.S.S. [96°30'E, 22°03'N], VI.1920, Archbald Coll. (NHM).

Distribution. India (Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim); Myanmar (Mandalay).

Remarks. This species was originally described as a subspecies of Neochauliodes sinensis (Walker) by Kimmins (1954). Liu et al. (2007a) elevated its specific status within the N. sinensis group. This species appears to be closely related to N. nigris Liu & Yang, 2005 from China and Japan by virtue of the similar wing patterns and male genitalia, but it can be distinguished from N. nigris by the median transverse markings of the forewings usually separated into several small spots and the female ninth gonocoxite without ventrally curved tip. In N. nigris the median transverse markings of the forewings are not separated and the female ninth gonocoxite is acutely pointed and curved ventrad. Kimmins (1954) named this species based on the nearly truncate tip of the male tenth sternum; however, the slightly concaved tip of the male tenth sternum is considered to be more typical for the species after we examined multiple male specimens. Ghosh (1981, 2000) recorded N. sinensis from Arunachal Pradesh based on one male specimen. According to the description of Ghosh (1981, 2000), we noticed that this male possesses a dark head and prothorax as well as a broad male tenth sternum, both of which are found in N. truncatus . Therefore, it is highly possible that the specimen of N. sinensis reported by Ghosh (1981, 2000) is actually N. truncatus , and the true N. sinensis may not occur in India and in adjacent regions of South Asia.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 7. Habitus images of Neochauliodes spp. 1. N. fletcheri Kimmins, holotype male; 2. N. indicus (van der Weele), paralectotype male; 3. N. nepalensis sp. nov., holotype male; 4. N. obscurus van der Weele, holotype female; 5. N. simplex (Walker), lectotype male; 6. N. subfasciatus (Westwood), lectotype male; 7. N. truncatus Kimmins, holotype male. Scale bars = 5.0 mm.

FIGURES 35 – 39. Neochauliodes truncatus Kimmins. 35. Male genitalia, lateral view; 36. Male tenth sternum, ventral view; 37. Male tenth tergum, dorsal view; 38. Female genitalia, lateral view; 39. Female eighth sternum, ventral view. Scale bars = 1.0 mm.