Myrmeleon assamensis Ghosh, 1984

Hassan, Muhammad Asghar, Zheng, Yuchen & Liu, Xingyue, 2022, Taxonomic notes on the antlion tribe Myrmeleontini Latreille (Neuroptera, Myrmeleontidae, Myrmeleontinae) from Pakistan, with description of a new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 831, pp. 1-44 : 34

Myrmeleon assamensis Ghosh, 1984

Myrmeleon assamensis Ghosh, 1984: 23 . Type locality: India (Assam).

Diagnosis

Myrmeleon assamensis can be distinguished by the marking patterns on vertex and pronotum: vertex black, posteriorly with four yellow markings, two at middle and two at lateral margins in dorsal view; pronotum yellow, medially with a pair of dark brown stripes, which are separated by a narrow median yellow line.

Note

In the original description (solely based on male), Ghosh (1984) characterized this species based on the presence of two black stripes on the pronotum and the number of presectoral crossveins and the radial branches in both wings. Subsequently, Ghosh (1990) described the female of this species and found that the number of presectoral crossveins and the radial branches are different from that in the male previously described by him. Later, Iqbal & Yousuf (1992: fig. 2) re-described this species based on specimens from Pakistan and provided the line drawings of the head and pronotum in dorsal view as well as the male genitalia. Recently, Akhtar et al. (2018: fig. 1a) also recorded this species in Pakistan, which, however, is a case of misidentification of M. tenuipennis (see Note to this species). In the original description of Myrmeleon assamensis , the marking patterns on vertex are as follows: vertex at distally with two longitudinal and two transverse dark spots in dorsal view (vertex with only two longitudinal yellow markings in M. tenuipennis ). No new specimens of this species were found in this study.

Distribution

Pakistan: Punjab Province (District Jhelum, District Khanewal, District Sahiwal); India (Assam State) ( Ghosh 1984, 1992, 2000; Iqbal & Yousuf 1992, 1997; Stange 2004; Akhtar et al. 2018; Hassan et al. 2019; Oswald 2020).