Palpares Rambur, 1842

Hassan, Muhammad Asghar, Akhtar, Saleem, Zheng, Yuchen & Liu, Xingyue, 2023, Taxonomic notes on the antlion tribe Palparini Banks (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) from Pakistan, Zootaxa 5256 (6), pp. 565-588 : 573

Genus Palpares Rambur, 1842

Palpares Rambur, 1842: 365 .

Type species: Hemerobius libelluloides Linnaeus, 1764: 401 .

As “ Palpares libelluloides [sic]” subsequent designation by Hagen, 1873: 390 – from Oswald & Penny, 1991: 47.

Negretus Navás, 1912c: 56 . Type species: Negretus ertli Navás, 1912c: 57 . Monotypy. Holotype female. Synonymized by Stange, 2004: 47.

Distribution. Palearctic, Afrotropical and Oriental regions ( Stange 2004; Machado et al. 2019).

Remarks. Palpares is a relatively larger genus with 66 known species, which are mainly distributed in the Afrotropical, Palaearctic and Oriental regions ( Mansell 2004; Michel et al. 2017; Machado et al. 2019). Currently, Palpares contains three species in Pakistan, which mainly occur in the northeastern (1 sp.), southern (1 spp.), and southeastern (2 spp.) parts: P. astarte Banks, 1913 and P. cephalotes (Klug in Ehrenberg, 1832) from Rajanpur district (southeastern) [see notes below], and P. zebratus known from southern (Karachi) and northern (Islamabad) parts ( Iqbal & Yousuf 1990, 1997; Whittington 2002; Hassan et al. 2019). These Palpares species found in Pakistan can be distinguished from other palparine genera by elongated labial palp with distally clavated palpimacula, sensory slit 1/2–1/3 length of terminal labial palpomere, reaching to apex; thorax brownish yellow with distinct median longitudinal brownish stripe; abdomen uniformly pale yellowish brown; male sternite 9 with round apex; ectoprocts cylindrical, slightly or distinctly curved at base; male gonocoxites 9 closely spaced, with obtuse apex and basal projection; and presence of gonarcal bulla.