Afroptera folia Abdalla & Mansell & Sole 2019, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Abdalla, Ishtiag H.
name: Mansell, Mervyn W.
name: Sole, Catherine L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Neuroptera
Nemopteridae
Afroptera
Afroptera folia

description: Afroptera folia Abdalla & Mansell sp. nov.
(Figs 46, 55, 59, 86, 154)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 3B07688D-C0FA-4965-A1DA-EA0 FEB27 BF60
Description. Size (mm). Male: body length 10.1 (9–11.5); forewing 23.9 (22.5–26.8); hind wing 55.3 (49.8– 63.5); antenna 22.1 (20.8–25.3); Female: body length 10.2 (9.4–10.9); forewing 21.3 (18.9– 23.6); hind wing 42.5 (37.3–47.7); antenna 13.7 (11.5–15.9). Holotype ♂ (Fig. 55); Body length 9.6; forewing 23.7; antenna 21.7; hind wing 52.9. (N = 8).
Head. Yellow. Vertex brown with yellow hind margin and two pale yellowish spots near eye margins. Palpi yellowish brown. Eyes large, widely separated. Antennae yellow proximally, yellowish brown distally, long, extending beyond pterostigma, covered in black setae longer in distal portion (Figs 55, 86). Apical segment longer than penultimate segment, mainly membranous (Fig. 59).
Thorax. Light yellow to creamy white, pruinose (Fig. 46). The midstripe on pronotum manifest as a brown central portion in posterior half of pronotum, while lateral stripes appear as two transverse brown spots lateral to midline. Fore and hind margins with erect long, black hairs intermixed with a few short white hairs. Very fine short white hairs spread behind black hairs on fore margin. Long erect black hairs spread with some long white hairs on each distal lateral side of pronotum. Prescutum with faintly visible midstripe appearing as light brown shading, disc with sparse, long black hairs, long black hairs present anterior-laterally admixed with a few long white hairs. Long white hairs also present along lateral sides of prescutum. Area between prescutum and mesoscutum dark brown. Mesoscutum with distinct dark brown lateral stripes, covered in long sparse white hair, two tufts of long white hairs spread posteriorly at each side of mesoscutum. Mesoscutellum unstriped, with sparse, long white hairs, but not longer than prescutum hairs. Two tufts of short hairs present posteriorly on each side of the mesoscutellum. Two tufts of long white hairs present laterally on each side of metanotum. Legs yellow with black setae. Coxae with intermingled white and black setae. Dorsal surface of femur tinged brown.
Forewings. Elongate, with extended rounded apex and distinct broad emargination before apex (Fig. 86). Venation brown, C whitish, proximal Cx shaded brown, costal cells increase in size towards pterostigma. Pterostigma dark brown, short. In holotype male, 20 Cx before pterostigma in right wing, 21 in left. Nine crossveins between R and M before Rs in both wings. Eleven radial crossveins before pterostigma in right wing, 10 in left. Hind wings yellowish brown proximally, brown in middle portion before dark area. Crossveins shaded light brown. Costal cells tinged brown. Longitudinal veins brown. Dark area dark brown, shorter than white area. Legs yellow with black hairs, femoral apices tinged dark brown.
Abdomen. Greyish, pruinose, tergites with yellow hind margins. Dorsum and venter with white hairs, denser, longer on dorsum than venter. Apex yellowish brown with long black hairs.
Variation. Some males have a shorter pterostigma than others.
Type material examined. SOUTH AFRICA, Northern Cape Province. Holotype ♂, NEUR08905, Richters- veld, Blackie’s Prospect, 145 m, 28°18’S 17°07’E, (2817Ac), 11.x.1974, M.W.Mansell. Paratypes: 5♂ 2♀, same data as holotype. (All SANC).
Distribution and habitat. This species is known from one locality in the Richtersveld Bioregion in the Succulent Karoo Biome (Fig. 154). The collection site falls within the Central Richtersveld Mountain Shrubland vegetation unit in the Richtersveld Bioregion. (See description of the habitat in this vegetation unit under the distribution of A. munroi).
description: Published as part of Abdalla, Ishtiag H., Mansell, Mervyn W. & Sole, Catherine L., 2019, Revision of the southern African genera Nemopterella Banks and Nemia Navás (Neuroptera: Nemopteridae: Nemopterinae), with descriptions of new genera and species, pp. 1-89 in Zootaxa 4635 (1) on pages 41-45, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4635.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3335102