Omoleon jeanneli Navás, 1936

Dobosz, Roland & Ábrahám, Levente, 2014, Omoleon jeanneli, new record from Kenya and a redescription (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae), Zootaxa 3821 (1), pp. 133-138 : 134-137

Omoleon jeanneli Navás, 1936 ( Figs. 1–7 )

Material examined: 1 female, Kenya E, E of Mwingi 5–7 km W of Nguni , 0°49'S / 38°16'E, 0 1. XII. 2010, savanna, light-trap collecting, leg. M. Snížek, deposited in the Entomological Collection of the Upper Silesian Museum, Bytom ( USMB, Poland).

Diagnostic characters. The species is characterized by strongly arched vertex; pronotum twice longer than wide; forewing heavily marked along C and R and around pterostigma in costal area, semicircular oculus pattern in the middle of marginal area and larger or smaller patches along hind margin. Base of forewing obtuse and anal margin with concave intrusion. Rs arises close to cubital fork on forewing. Majority of costal veins simple. Legs long, with tibial spurs but lacking opposable claws. Anterior gonapophyses somewhat shorter than lateral gonapophysis. Male and larva unknown.

Description. Habitus ( Fig. 1 ): Distinctly brown and yellow-brown small to medium-sized antlion with short clavate antennae, and with elongated yellow pronotum with pale brown longitudinal band. Thorax with a distinct longitudinal brown band. Abdomen generally brown (darker on the dorsal side) with yellow spots in the lateral view. Wings quite narrow, with acute apex, with a very characteristic arrangement of brown spots. Legs slender and long, with a dominant brown coloration.

Head: Vertex strongly arched, yellow with some indistinct blackish suffusion and with very short, scarce black hairs ( Fig. 2 ). Square-shaped, distinct, shiny black spots spreading from scape to anterior margin of vertex. Frons yellow, with short scattered black hairs. Gena and clypeus yellow, hairless; labrum yellow, with pale hairs curved to mouthparts. Mandible yellow, with brown inner margin. Maxillary palps yellow, with very short pale hairs; labial palp asymetrical spindle-shaped, palpimacula oval-shaped ( Fig. 3 ). Compound eye large. Antenna 4.5 mm long. Scape shiny black, with short black hairs; basal part of pedicel black, otherwise brownish-yellow, with short black hairs. Flagellar segments yellow with short dense and black setae, club brown, covered with short dense and black setae.

Thorax: Pronotum subdiamond-shaped, longer than wide, yellow, with longitudinal indistinct and pale brown band and with many tiny brown spots where short white hairs originated; its margins with prominent white bristles ( Fig. 4 ). Mesonotum – Prescutum dominantly brownish-yellow, with indistinct brown band and tiny brown spots. Mesoscutum yellow, with central longitudinal wide brown band and two short lateral brown lines, and with short, outstanding, sparse and white hairs. Central part of mesoscutellum brown, lateral part yellow. Metanotum yellow, with distinct median, longitudinal, wide and brown band, hairless. Sides yellow, almost bare, with distinct, longitudinal, wide and brown band and with sparse, short and white hairs.

Legs: Slender and long ( Fig. 5 ). Dorsal sides of coxae brownish, ventral sides yellow; coxae with short, sparse and white hairs. Fore femur brown, with rather dense, black hairs and some long, black bristles. Middle femur (broken but glued on label) dominantly brown with short, black hairs and two rows of ventral black bristles. Hind femur dominantly yellow, with short, black hairs and two rows of ventral black bristles. Femora as long as tibiae. Fore tibia dominantly brown with yellow spots; middle tibia predominantly yellow, with some distinct larger and many tiny brown spots; hind tibia dominantly yellow, with many tiny brown spots. Pubescence on tibiae dense, black hairs and two rows of ventral black bristles. Tibial spurs slender slightly curved ( Fig. 5 ), as long as tarsal segments 1–2 combined on fore and middle legs, somewhat shorter than segments 1–2 combined on hind leg. Tarsal segments 1–4 dominantly brown, with black bristles, equal in length; segment 5 yellow, with black bristles about twice longer than the other segments. Claws reddish, half as long as tarsal segment 5.

Wings: Forewing: 27 mm long, 6.5 mm wide. Hindwing: 24 mm long, 5.25 mm wide.

Forewing with acute apex and obtuse basal area with concave intrusion. Membrane transparent, with larger and smaller, dark brown to brown shadows and dots. C yellow except where brown patterned. A few cross-veins before pterostigma bifurcated. Most part of Sc and R brown, but yellow at median part and interrupted with brown dashes at costal cross-veins. Radial veins rather brown proximally and yellowish-brown to yellow distally. Number of radial veins 14 in Rs and 4–5 radial cross-veins in front of origin of Rs. In radial sector, anterior Banksian-line recognizable. M yellow proximally, brownish distally with dark brown dashes at costal cross-veins. CuA1 yellow, interrupted with dark brown dashes at cross-veins. Anal veins mostly yellow. In the middle of marginal area “ Dendroleon - type ” pattern, a semicircular oculus present. Pterostigma brown.

Hindwing with dominantly yellow longitudinal veins. CuA1 yellow, interrupted with dark brown dashes at cross veins. Membrane in costal area with brown shadowing apically. Pterostigma brownish. Cross-veins before pterostigma bifurcated. Dark brown, irregular shaped spots right below, at subapical margin and where M and CuA1 reach hind margin. 1 radial cross-vein in front of origin of Rs.

Abdomen: 16 mm long. Tergite 1 as long as wide, brown. Tergite 2 almost 1.5 times longer than wide, brown. Tergite 1–4 brown with large, central, yellow spot in lateral view. Other tergites brown. Tergite 1–5 with short white hairs, other tergites with short, shining black hairs. Sternite 1 dominantly brown, sternite 2–4 yellow to brown, other sternites brownish with similar pubescence like tergites.

Genitalia: Female. In lateral view ( Fig. 6 ) tergite 9 subdiamond-shaped, yellow, with indistinct brownish pattern, with short black hairs. Ectoproct long, oval, yellow, with black hairs. In ventral view ( Fig. 7 ) posterior gonopophysis with elongated and bended backwards and with strong rigid black bristles; anterior gonopophysis short lobe-like with black bristles and tooth-like pregenital plate. Anterior gonapophysis somewhat shorter than lateral gonapophysis. Spermatheca bent as in Figs. 6–7 .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 5. Fig. 1. Habitus of Omoleon jeanneli Navás, 1936 female, Abbreviations: Costa (C), Subcosta, Radius (R), Radius sector (Rs), Median (M), Cubitus (Cu), Cubitus and Anterior 1 (CuA 1); Fig. 2. Head in frontal view; Fig. 3. Labial palp and palpimacula; Fig. 4. Pronotum in dorsal view; Fig. 5. Middle leg

FIGURES 6 – 7. Fig. 6. Female genitalia in lateral view abbreviation: ectroproct (e), tergite 9 (T 9), lateral gonopophysis (lg), posterior gonopophysis (pg), anterior gonopophysis (ag), gonopophysal plate (gp), pregenital plate (pp), spermatheca (S); Fig. 7. ditto in ventral view