Crambomorphus sinuatus
Creators: name: Mansell, Mervyn W.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Neuroptera
Myrmeleontidae
Crambomorphus
Crambomorphus sinuatus

description: Crambomorphus sinuatus (Olivier, 1811).
Figs 1–15, 72, 76, 80, 86, 92
Myrmeleon sinuatum Olivier, 1811: 121. 5010.
Myrmeleon sinuatus Olivier: Walker 1853: 404. 6194.
Crambomorphus sinuatus (Olivier): Kolbe 1897: 6. 3434.
Stenares (Crambomorphus) sinuatus (Olivier): Banks 1913: 190. 61. Palpares haematogaster Gerstaecker, 1863: 184. 2553; Brauer 1867: 520 (syn). 1688. Crambomorphus haematogaster (Gerstaecker): McLachlan 1867: 243. 342.
Redescription. Habitus (Figs 2, 3). Very large Palparini, as in genus diagnosis. Wings smoothly-sinuate with falcate tips and a broad sinuate stripe along posterior margin of forewing. Wings markedly darker and broader than other species with falcate wings. Meso- and metathorax densely clothed with long white recumbent setae.
Head: as wide as prothorax, vertex raised, yellow, densely speckled with black maculae and clothed with dense white recumbent setae; median black stripe extends from vertex broadening posteriorly over prothorax; frons yellow with recumbent white setae; clypeus and labrum yellow. Eyes large, greater than hemispherical. Antennae slightly longer than head-width, black, densely covered in short black setae, antennal toruli greater than scape diameter apart, scape bearing long white and black setae. Palps black, labial palps clavate with short acute tip, covered with black setae, palpimacula slit-like extending to, but not over apex (Fig. 86).
Thorax: prothorax short, much wider than long, pale-yellowish with central black stripe, and small spot on either side, lateral margins black, anterior margin raised, with dense fringe of long white anteriorly-directed setae and black setae posteriorly, hind margin raised with long white and black setae. Meso- and metathorax densely covered with long white pubescence, completely obscuring thoracic patterns.
Wings: narrow, heavily marked with dark-brown, hind margins of both fore- and hind wings characteristically sinuate with acute falcate tips (Figs 1–3); crossveins densely reticulated, pale yellowish-white, wing veins mainly devoid of setae, except for dense fringe along C and in hypostigmatic area; hypostigmatic cells long; pterostigma miniscule, scarcely discernible. Forewings with four brown markings; basal mark large, diffuse, apical mark divided, posterior margin with broad sinuate brown stripe in apical half, posterior basal margin pale. Costal vein with short dense black setae; a few (2–10) costal cells biaereolate or bifurcate before Rs but highly variable, all veins beyond Rs unbranched; R mainly black, alternating black and yellow distally; CuA black and yellow, Rs arises beyond CuA fork, presectoral veins irregularly biaereolate; Mp2 (oblique vein) arises well beyond CuA fork. Hind wings brown with three pale bands and pale area basally; costal cells usually uniaereolate, occasionally bifurcate, slightly sinuate; Rs arises at same level as Mp fork; presectoral crossveins biaereolate.
Legs: black with faint orange patches on tibiae, densely covered with short white and black spinose setae; forelegs with dense setal brush on tibiae, tibiae longer than tarsi in all legs, tibial spurs dark-brown, curved, extending to just beyond Ta2; Ta1–Ta4 short, Ta5 long, approximately equal to combined length of Ta1–Ta4; pretarsal claws longer than Ta1–Ta2, dark-brown, slightly curved.
Abdomen: shorter than hind wings, blood-red in living specimens, covered with short black setae, with some long white setae on T1 and anterior margin of T2. Male (Figs 4–12) with T9 divided, sternite IX (Figs 5, 9) with rounded smooth apex; ectoprocts (Figs 4–6) black, curved, cylindrical, apices incrassate, with short white setae dorsally, long black setae laterally, dense pad of stout curved black spines on inner surface and two stout spines basally. Gonarcus and parameres (Figs 10–12) fused into a rigid cone-shaped structure, parameres slerotized, shiny black with medial tuft of sensory setae, gonarcal bulla strongly pronounced (Fig. 12); hypandrium internum (Figs 7–8) lightly sclerotized, keel-shaped. Female (Figs 13–15) with rounded ectoprocts bearing stout fossorial spines; anterior gonapophyses rounded with long slender setae, lateral gonapohyses fused into cone-shaped structure with stout fossorial spines; pregenitalae (Fig. 15) triangular, sclerotized. Spermatheca (see Fig. 52) sclerotized proximally becoming slender, coiled, tapering distally, with fine setae along distal extremity.
The small sclerotized triangular pregenitale of the female, which is situated in membranous folds between the anterior gonapophyses serves to accommodate and guide the equally inconspicuous keel-shaped hypandrium internum of the male to the spermatheca during sperm transfer.
Larva. Unknown.
Distribution (Fig. 92). Crambomorphus sinuatus is endemic to the Western and Northern Cape Provinces of South Africa, and is mainly centred in the Great Karoo region of South Africa.
Type material examined. Holotype (Fig. 1), Myrmeleon sinuatum Olivier, photograph (only wings remaining, glued to card) “ Cap de Bonne-Efpérance ” (Cape of Good Hope, Western Cape Province, South Africa), RMNH. Holotype ♀, Palpares haematogaster Gerstaecker, “ Caffraria (Drége)” (Eastern Cape Province, South Africa), ZMHB.
Additional material examined. SOUTH AFRICA, Western Cape Province: 1♀, Tierberg Research Station, Prince Albert District, 33.07.39S 22.16.26E, 816m, 17.i.1988, W.R.J.Dean, NEUR00882; 1♀, same locality and collector but 8.ii.1988, NEUR02367; 1♂, Wolfdrif, Cedarberg, 32.01.00S 19.03.29 E, 281m, 19.ii.2001, M.W.Mansell, H.&U.Aspöck, H.Hölzel, NEUR05508; 1♀, same locality but 5.xi.2003, A.K.Brinkman, JBNE00218 (JBBC); 1♀, Wolfdrif Pass, 32.05.33S 19.04.01 E, 465m, 5.xi.2003, A.K.Brinkman, JBNE00219 (JBBC); 1♂, Beaufort West, 32.21.00S 22.35.00E, 855m, 30.i.2004, No collector name, JBNE00220 (JBBC).
Northern Cape Province: 3♂, Roodekruis Farm, Fraserburg District, 31.47.11S 21.53.21E, 1251m, 10.i.1988, G.Visser, NEUR00870; 1♂ 2♀, 5 km W Fraserburg, 31.55.32S 21.27.36E, 1305m, 10.i.1991, M.de Jager, NEUR01277; 1♂ 2♀, Uurhoogte 11 km E Fraserburg, 31.50.56S 21.35.59E, 1266m, 14.xii.1989, M.W.Mansell, H.& U.Aspöck, NEUR01347; 1♂ 1♀, Sterkfontein Farm, Calvinia District, 31.49.26S 20.29.28E, 1226m, 8.ii.1988, same collectors, NEUR01355; 2♀, Fraserburg, 31.55.00S 21.30.49E, 1357m, 15.xii.1986, M.de Jager, NEUR02366; 1♂, (Wings folded) Snyderspoort Pass, 31.55.53S 20.42.27E, 1254m, 31.xii.1988, R.B. Miller, NEUR02378; 1♂, (Wings folded), 5 km N Middelpos, 31.52.00S 20.15.34E, 1152m, 25.xii.1988, same collector, NEUR02379; 1♀, Kenhardt, 29.20.57S 21.09.03 E, 794m, 14.xii.2006, A.K.Brinkman, JBNE00566 (JBBC); 1♀, Kelkiewyn Farm, Calvinia District, 31.12.01 S 19.41.33E, 681m, 24.i.2009, C.H.Scholtz, NEUR09896; 1♀, Trawal, 31.50.39S 18.38.14E, 52m, 23.i.2015, H.Basson, NEUR12106; 1♂ 1♀, Lang Hoogte Mine Office, 29.32.19S 17.23.27E, 104m, 9.ii.1996, A.J.van Wyk, NEUR02381; 3♂ 5♀, same locality and collector, 12.i.1997, NEUR03812; 1♂ 1♀, same locality and collector, 6.ii.1997, NEUR03813; 1♀, same locality and collector, 25.ii.1997, NEUR03814.
Comments. Myrmeleon sinuatum was named and described by Olivier (1811) from “Cap de Bonne- Efpérance” from a drawing by Seba (1765) who did not provide a name or description (Brauer 1867). Brauer (1867) stated that Olivier (1811) had naïvely cited Albertus Seba’s drawing under the name “dans le cabinet de feu M. Alberti”, thereby obscuring the association of Seba’s (1765) drawing with his (Olivier 1811) description of M. sinuatum. This was perpetuated by Hagen (1866) who tentatively listed Seba’s illustration under Palpares latipennis Rambur, while citing M. sinuatum separately under Myrmeleon. Brauer (1867) drew attention to this anomaly, and Hagen (1887) replied that it had been a typographical error where Seba’s Fig. 5 (1765) had been incorrectly cited instead of Fig. 17 in his paper (Hagen 1866). All that remains of the holotype (the specimen represented in Seba’s drawing) are the two pairs of wings mounted on a card in RMNH. A photograph is available (Fig. 1) and is sufficient to confirm the identity of the species. See also, van der Weele (1903). Gerstaecker (1863) added a second species, Palpares haematogaster, from “Caffraria” (Eastern Cape Province, South Africa), collected by Drége. However, C. sinuatus is not known from the Eastern Cape, so Gerstaecker’s concept of “Caffraria” probably included the Western Cape Province of South Africa. This specimen is in excellent condition in ZMHB where I have examined it. A comparison of these two specimens confirms that P. haematogaster is a junior synonym of M. sinuatum, thereby supporting the synonymy of Brauer (1867).
description: Published as part of Mansell, Mervyn W., 2018, Antlions of southern Africa: genus Crambomorphus McLachlan, 1867, including extra-limital species (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae: Palparinae: Palparini), pp. 465-500 in Zootaxa 4382 (3) on pages 467-472, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4382.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/1183068