Protohermes parcus Yang and Yang

Liu, Xingyue, Hayashi, Fumio & Yang, Ding, 2009, Systematics of the Protohermes parcus species group (Megaloptera: Corydalidae), with notes on its phylogeny and biogeography, Journal of Natural History 43 (5 - 6), pp. 355-372 : 363-365

Protohermes parcus Yang and Yang

( Figures 3 , 18–25 )

Protohermes parcus Yang and Yang, 1988: 55 . Type locality: Yunnan (Baoshan).

Diagnosis

Head without any markings; pronotum only with some indistinct dark markings; male ninth sternum with parallel lateral margins; male tenth tergum wider than long; male tenth sternum with a dorsomedial process strongly developed and with subuliform lateral lobes.

Material examined

Holotype: male, CHINA, Yunnan, Baoshan, Bawan, 24 ° 579N, 98 ° 499E, 1100 m, 28 June 1979 ( CAU). One male, CHINA, Yunnan, Tengchong , 25 ° 019N, 98 ° 309E, 26 May 2005, leg. H. Huang ( CAU); four males and one female, CHINA, Yunnan, Tengchong, Jietou, 25 ° 269N, 98 ° 389E, 1 June 2007, leg. X.Y. Liu ( CAU).

Male

Body length 30–40 mm; forewing length 39–44 mm, hindwing length 35–37 mm.

Head. Yellowish brown, without any markings; post-ocular spine short. Compound eyes brown; ocelli yellowish brown, medially margined black. Antennae blackish brown, with scape and pedicel yellow. Mouthparts yellow; mandible with inner portion of apex brownish.

Prothorax. Yellowish brown; pronotum pale yellow on lateral margins, anteriorly with a pair of small black spots and a pair of indistinct cloudy brownish marking, posteriorly with a pair of brown vittae and a pair of black transverse markings. Meso- and metathorax pale yellow, slightly darker laterally. Thoracic pilosity yellow, much longer on meso- and metathorax. Legs pale yellow with yellowish short dense setae; tarsal claws reddish brown. Wings hyaline, immaculate; veins pale yellow, with basal anal veins and crossveins of forewings slightly darker. Rs mostly ninebranched, last branch bifurcate; 8–14 crossveins between R 1 and Rs; M 1+2 fourbranched, M 3+4 two-branched; 1A three-branched.

Abdomen. Dark brown with yellow venter. Ninth tergum ( Figure 19 ) broad, nearly hexagonal, with a V-shaped anterior incision. Ninth sternum ( Figure 20 ) broadly subquadrate with lateral margins nearly parallel; posterior margin with a shallow, arched incision; median portion with a deep longitudinal incision. Ninth gonostylus ( Figure 21 ) unguiform, slightly shorter than ninth tergum, with apex slightly sinuate. Tenth tergum ( Figures 19, 22 ) flattened, subquadrate, wider than long, and much shorter than ninth tergum, ventrally incised except for marginal areas, with posterior margin oblique. Tenth sternum ( Figure 23 ) extremely small, ventromedial process well developed, much longer than lateral lobe; lateral lobes shortly subuliform.

Female

Body length 46 mm; forewing length 53 mm, hindwing length 44 mm.

Abdomen. Eighth sternum ( Figures 24–25 ) broad, subtriangular in lateral view, with posterior margin slightly incised medially in ventral view. Ninth gonocoxite broad, posterior portion rounded and slightly incised ventrad, with a small digitiform gonostylus at tip. Tenth tergum short, with posterior margin medially incised, leaving thick, digitiform dorsal, and short, semicircular ventral lobes.

Distribution

China (Yunnan).

Remarks

This species appears to be closely related to P. subparcus in having the similar male tenth sternum, but it can be easily separated from P. subparcus by the indistinct prothoracic markings, the male tenth tergum wider than long, and the male ninth sternum with the nearly parallel lateral margins. In P. subparcus , the prothoracic markings are distinctly black, the male tenth tergum is longer than wide, and the lateral margins of the male ninth sternum are oblique. Liu and Yang (2006a) illustrated the female genitalia of this species based on a female specimen from Lijiang, northwestern Yunnan. This specimen possesses a nearly hexagonal eighth sternum and a pair of shortly round dorsal lobes of the tenth tergum. In this female specimen, the prothoracic pattern is slightly different from that of the holotype by having two pairs of reddish brown cloudy markings and two pairs of slender brownish vittae. After we collected a female specimen from Tengchong, western Yunnan, which possesses the same prothoracic pattern with the holotype, we consider the female specimen from Lijiang to be misidentified as P. parcus . The female specimen from Lijiang probably belongs to a new species in the P. davidi group or P. parcus group, but its taxonomic status should be determined after the discovery of the male. Herein, we illustrate the female genitalia of P. parcus based on the specimen from Tengchong, showing the morphological differences from the female specimen from Lijiang in the shape of the eighth sternum and the tenth tergum.

Figures

Figures 1–5. Habitus photographs of the species in P. parcus group. (1) Protohermes congruens sp. nov., male holotype; (2) Protohermes flavinervus sp. nov., male holotype; (3) Protohermes parcus Yang and Yang, male holotype; (4) Protohermes pennyi sp. nov., male holotype; (5) Protohermes subparcus Liu and Yang, male holotype.

Figures 18–25. Protohermes parcus Yang and Yang. (18) Male head and prothorax, dorsal; (19) male genitalia, dorsal view; (20) male ninth sternum, ventral view; (21) male ninth gonostylus, ventral view; (22) male tenth tergum, ventral view; (23) male tenth sternum, ventral view; (24) female abdominal apex, lateral view; (25) female eighth sternum, ventral view. Scale bars: 1 mm.