Platychauliodes thornei Barnard

Liu, Xingyue, Price, Ben W., Hayashi, Fumio & Yang, Ding, 2011, Revision of the fishfly genus Platychauliodes Esben-Petersen (Megaloptera: Corydalidae) endemic to South Africa, Zootaxa 2909, pp. 1-13 : 9-11

Platychauliodes thornei Barnard

( Figures 5–6 , 32–40 )

Platychauliodes thornei Barnard, 1940: 612 . Type locality: South Africa (Hottentots Holland Mts.).

Diagnosis. This is a relatively large species of Platychauliodes (forewing length 25.9 mm in male and 34.0– 40.5 mm in female). The Rs of the forewings is 6 or 7-branched. The male tenth sternum has the median plate separated into a pair of broadly spoon-like lobes and a pair of short, flattened accessory processes.

Description. Male. Body length 20.0 mm; forewing length 25.9 mm, hindwing length 23.4 mm.

Head dark brown. Compound eyes dark brown; ocelli widely separated, pale yellow, medially margined blackish brown. Antenna filiform, dark brown. Mouthparts brown, with maxillary and labial palpi much paler.

Thorax dark brown, much darker on lateral portions of meso- and metanota. Legs yellowish brown, with dense yellowish setae; femora and tibiae with extreme apices brown, tarsi entirely brown, tarsal claws reddish brown.

Wings hyaline, pterostigmatic area narrowly elongated, pale grayish brown. Forewings with numerous brownish spots along longitudinal veins, some of which at proximal portion fused into a short transverse patch. Hindwings immaculate. Veins pale yellowish brown, with blackish brown sections in dark markings and costal crossveins of forewings. Rs ( Fig. 5 ) 6-branched; M 2-branched.

Abdomen blackish brown. Ninth tergum ( Figs. 32, 34 ) subtrapezoidal in dorsal view, anteriorly feebly incised medially, posteriorly truncate. Ninth sternum ( Figs. 33–34 ) subquadrate, posteriorly bearing a subtriangular membranous lobe. Tenth tergum ( Figs. 32, 34–35 ) as long as 2/3 of ninth tergum, directed posteriad and slightly flattened; in lateral view slightly inflated anteriorly and gradually narrowed posteriad, leaving an acutely pointed tip; in dorsal view posterior half strongly curved medially; in ventral view anterior portion with a few spinous setae. Tenth sternum ( Figs. 33–36 ) much shorter than length of ninth plus tenth tergum, strongly sclerotized with elongated lateral arms; median plate medially separated into a pair of broad and spoon-like lobes, each of which laterally bears a short, flattened, and slightly curved process, obliquely producing dorsad at subdistal portion. Anus ( Figs. 35, 37 ) slightly sclerotized ventrad, medially with a slenderly digitiform sclerite in caudal view.

Female. Body length 21.0– 24.6 mm; forewing length 34.0– 40.5 mm, hindwing length 29.0– 35.7 mm.

Rs ( Fig. 6 ) 7-branched in forewings but 6-branched in hindwings.

Seventh sternum ( Fig. 39 ) broad, slightly produced posteriad, medially much more sclerotized. Eighth sternum ( Figs. 38–39 ) rather short, with posterior margin slightly incised, bearing a short membranous lobe. Ninth gonocoxite ( Fig. 38 ) broadly foliate with acute tip. Tenth tergum ( Fig. 40 ) short with ovoid cercus ventrolaterally.

Type material. Lectotype 3 (present designation), SOUTH AFRICA: Western Cape Province: “Hottentots Holland Mts. [33°57'S, 19°09'E], I.1933, K.H. Barnard/ SAM-MEG-A 000011” ( SAM). Paralectotype 1Ƥ (present designation), same data as lectotype ( SAM, SAM-MEG-A 000011).

Other material. 1Ƥ, SOUTH AFRICA: Western Cape Province: Matroosberg, Ceres side [33°23'S, 19°40'E], I.1917, K.H. Barnard ( SAM, SAM-MEG-A 000010).

Distribution. South Africa (Western Cape Province).

Remarks. See remarks of P. pusillus .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 6. Habitus images of Platychauliodes spp. 1. P. c a p e n s i s Barnard, lectotype male; 2. same, female; 3. P. pusillus (McLachlan), holotype male; 4. same, female; 5. P. t h o r n e i Barnard, lectotype male; 6. same, paralectotype female.

FIGURES 32 – 40. Platychauliodes thornei Barnard. 32. Male genitalia, dorsal view; 33. Male genitalia, ventral view; 34. Male genitalia, lateral view; 35. Male genitalia, caudal view; 36. Male tenth sternum, ventral view; 37. Sclerite beneath male anus, ventral view; 38. Female genitalia, lateral view; 39. Female seventh and eighth sternum, ventral view; 40. Female genitalia, dorsal view. Scale bars = 1.0 mm.