Cymothales Gerstaecker, 1893

Badano, Davide, 2020, A new Cymothales Gerstaecker from the Gabonese rainforest (Neuroptera Myrmeleontidae), Zootaxa 4803 (2), pp. 345-354 : 346

Cymothales Gerstaecker, 1893

Cymothales Gerstaecker (1893: 127)

Type species. Cymothales mirabilis Gerstaecker , after Banks (1911)

Taxonomy. Stange, (1976: 298); Mansell (1987: 182)

Catalog. Stange (1976: 298, 2004: 80); Mansell (1987: 182)

Larva. Mansell (1987).

Distribution. Sub-Saharan Africa, Arabian Peninsula ( Yemen).

Diagnosis. Vertex inflated, markedly angular in frontal view. Antenna from relatively robust and clavate ( illustris -group) to filiform (e.g. C. poultoni Navás, 1912 ). Pronotum longer than wide. Legs long and slender. Tibial spurs at least as long as T1+T2. Pretarsal claws not folding against a patch of setae. Wings strongly patterned. Forewing often with pointed apex; presectoral area with a series of irregular biareolated cells, RP originating distal to forking of CuA (Fig. 2A, B). Hind wing usually longer than forewing and often with pointed apex; 1–2 presectoral crossveins. Male with pilula axillaris.

Male genitalia. Male ectoproct simple, without postventral projection; sternite 9 relatively short, not bilobed; gonocoxites 11 arch-shaped; gonocoxites 9 in the form of rigid plates.

Female genitalia. Gonocoxite 7 triangle-shaped; setiferous processes anterior to gonocoxites 8 very short, not prominent; gonocoxites 8 digitiform; gonocoxites 9 with digging setae; ectoproct with digging setae.

Diagnosis of the larva. Mandible upturned, with three teeth. Labial palpus longer than mandible width at base. Ocular tubercle relatively small, with reduced stemmata. Mesothoracic spiracle not raised on tubercle. Mesothorax with median tuft of hair-like setae. Anterior mesothoracic setiferous process small, shorter or thinner than the posterior mesothoracic scolus-like setiferous process. Abdominal setiferous processes tubercle-like. Abdominal segment 9 longer than wide.