Cymothales massaronei, Badano, 2020

Badano, Davide, 2020, A new Cymothales Gerstaecker from the Gabonese rainforest (Neuroptera Myrmeleontidae), Zootaxa 4803 (2), pp. 345-354 : 347-349

Cymothales massaronei sp. nov.

Based on holotype female.

( Figs 1 , 2A, 2C, 3)

Diagnosis. Large-sized, slender dendroleontine myrmeleontid ( Fig. 1A ). Antenna elongate, without apical dilatation. Pronotum brown with paler stripes. Legs long and slender; foretibia pale; metathoracic leg with T1 as long as T5. Forewing broad with slightly pointed apex, largely hyaline with light brown markings; base of forewing with a yellow marking with black margin, sectoral markings comprising a small marking at RP origin and a large marking in the cubital area. Hind wing slightly longer than forewing, barely pointed.

Description. Size (in mm), body length: 22, pronotum length: 2, forewing length 44, forewing width 12, ratio length/width 3.66, hind wing length 46 mm, hind wing width 9 mm, ratio length/width 5.11.

Head. Vertex strongly inflated, markedly angular in frontal view, brown; occiput brown with faint irregular paler areas ( Fig. 1D ). Frons, clypeus and labrum entirely brown ( Fig. 1D ). Antenna relatively long, without apical dilatation, yellowish brown. Scape twice wider than long, dark brown; pedicel with a basal narrowing, light brown; flagellomeres twice longer than wide, yellowish brown. Maxillary palpus pale brown. Labial palpus pale brown, third palpomere tapered apically. Frons, clypeus and labrum sparsely covered with slender pale setae.

Thorax. Pronotum longer than wide, brown with a faint median pale stripe and a pair of lateral pale stripes joining posteriorly in a median trapezoidal pale marking ( Fig. 1C ). Mesothorax brown with lighter sclerite margins; mesoscutellum brown with lighter anterior margins. Metathorax largely brown, except a pair of short paler stripes on metascutum. Pleurae largely brown ( Fig. 1B ). Pronotum with light hair-like setae; meso- and metathorax with sparse hair-like setae.

Legs. Prothoracic leg: femur at least 4 times longer than wide, longer than tibia; tibia narrow, 4 times longer than wide, T1 as long as T5. Mesothoracic leg: femur more than 9 times longer than wide, tibia 9 times longer than wide, T1 as long as T5. Metathoracic leg: femur more than 10 times longer than wide, tibia 10 times as long as wide, T1 as long as T5 (Fig. 2C). Tibial spurs as long as T1+T 2 in all legs (Fig. 2C). Legs entirely pale, with exception of the dark brown markings on prothoracic coxa ( Fig. 1B ). Legs thickly covered with long dark setae and short brown bristles, setae longer on the ventral side.

Wings. Forewing broad, not falcate, with slightly pointed apex ( Figs 1A , 2A). Presectoral area with 2 crossveins and about 8 irregular biareolated cells. RP with 10 branches. Hypostigmatic cell relatively short, without crossveins. Wing membrane largely hyaline with a light brown pattern, wing veins largely pale. Base of wing with a brown marking, covering the entire anal area. Basal third of wing with small brown markings. Sectoral spot as a small brown marking at RP origin, slightly wider than radial cells. Some crossveins between M and Cu highlighted with brown spots. Cubital area with a smaller light brown marking and a larger distal marking. Posterior margin of wing and medial area with a large marking, rhegma dark brown. Distal third of wing with a large light brown marking, pterostigma and wing apex whitish. Hind wing slightly longer than forewing, not falcate, with a slightly pointed apex ( Figs 1A , 2A). Presectoral area with 1 crossvein. RP with 10 branches. Membrane largely hyaline with large light brown markings and whitish apex. Wing base with a dark isolated dot on posterior margin. Cubital area with a large dark brown marking.

Abdomen. First four abdominal segments pale brown, with the exception of the dark brown posterior margin of tergites; distal segments largely dark brown. Abdomen with short pale setae. Female genitalia. As in Fig. 3 . Gonocoxite 7 relatively small; setiferous processes anterior of gonocoxites 8 short, not prominent (especially in lateral view) with dark apex; gonocoxites 8 digitiform, curved inward; gonocoxites 9 with yellowish digging setae; ectoproct slightly tapered ventrally with strong digging setae on the ventral surface ( Fig. 3 ).

Specimen examined. Holotype. ♀ GABON—Ogoou Ivindo / Parc National Ivindo—Station de Recherche d’Ipassa, 500 m / 0.5123333° 12.802555555555557°/ 15–25.VI.2016 C. Massarone leg. // Cymothales massaronei sp. nov. / D. Badano det. 2020 [ MZUR].

Etymology. The new species is named in honor of its collector, Carlo Massarone, who brought it to the attention of the author, as a sign of friendship.

FIGURE 2. Diagnostic characters of the species of Cymothales reported for Gabon. A: Cymothales massaronei sp. nov. B: Cymothales liberiensis van der Weele [ Congo]. C: tarsus of metathoracic leg of C. massaronei sp. nov. D: tarsus of metathoracic leg of C. liberiensis . Abbreviations: Abbreviations: C: costa; Sc: subcosta; RA = radius anterior; RP = radius posterior; MA = media anterior; MP = media posterior; CuA = cubitus anterior; CuP = cubitus posterior; A = anal field; irr cell: irregular series of biareolated cells cells anterior to RP origin, RP o: origin of RP, t: tarsomere.Scale bars, A–B: 10 mm, C–D: 0.2 mm.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Cymothales massaronei sp. nov., holotype. A: habitus. B: head and thorax lateral view. C: head and pronotum, dorsal view. D: head, frontal view. Scale bars, A: 10 mm, B: 2 mm, C–D: 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. Cymothales massaronei sp. nov., female genitalia.A: genitalia in lateral view. B: genitalia in ventral view.Abbreviations: ect: ectoproct, gx: gonocoxite, pr8: setiferous process anterior to gonocoxite 8, T: tergite, S: sternite. Scale bar 0.5 mm.