Navasoleon venezolanus Stange 2018, new species
Creators: name: Stange, Lionel A.
name: Miller, Robert B.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Neuroptera
Myrmeleontidae
Navasoleon
Navasoleon venezolanus

description: Navasoleon venezolanus Stange, new species
Figures 9, 18, 27, 30, 31, 32, 46, 52, 64, 68, 69, 70, 71
Type locality. Falcon, Venezuela.
Description. Antenna weakly clavate; hindleg distal tarsomere, about equal in length to tarsomeres 3 and 4 together and about 1.5 times as long as pretarsal claws (Fig. 31).
Holotype male. Length of body 16 mm., forewing length 20.5 mm., width 4.5 mm., hindwing length 20 mm., width 3.0 mm.; wing span 42 mm. Coloration: Face (Fig. 9) all pale yellow; palpi pale brown; antenna with flagellomeres mostly pale brown except some dark brown laterally; supra-antennal dark brown area triangular, restricted to median area; vertex (Fig. 9, 18) pale yellow except for small dark brown spot submedially at middle and V-shaped dark area above and slightly below antennal sockets; pronotum completely pale yellow except dark brown area laterally on posterior one-third; broad pale yellow band on middle of pterothoracic nota including scutelli; pterothoracic pleura (Fig. 30) mostly pale brown with dark brown ventrally; coxae and trochanters all pale brown; femur and tibia pale brown with many dark brown spots at setal bases; tarsus pale brown except dark brown apex of distal tarsomere; wings without markings; abdomen mostly pale brown. Chaetotaxy: Face without setae except short setae on labrum; vertex with short, decumbent black setae dorsally; pronotum (Fig. 18) with moderately long, erect, black setae; fore femoral sense hair about equal to that mid femur and about 2 times as long as femoral diameter; ventral setae on distal tarsomere of foreleg longer than middle diameter of tarsomere, apically hooked; ventral setae on other legs not hooked, longer than middle diameter of tarsomere. Structure: Distal palpomere slender, palpimacula near center; antenna long, weakly clavate, basal flagellomeres (Fig. 9) about 1.5 times longer than wide; pronotum (Fig. 18) about 1.5 times longer (measured at center) as wide; foreleg tarsomere 2 about equal in length to distal tarsomere which is bent subapically; hindleg distal tarsomere about equal in length to tarsomeres 3 and 4 together and about 1.5 times as long as pretarsal claws; forewing with vein CuP+1A touching posterior vein a little before origin of radial sector; costal cells all broader than high. Male genitalia (Fig. 52). With gonarcus broad, short, not arched; mediuncus absent; parameres nearly touching dorsally, then somewhat below diverge greatly laterally; sculpture evident
Female. About as described for male. Female terminalia (Fig. 64). With posterior gonapophysis weakly swollen, about 4.5 times longer than middle diameter, with long setae especially apically which attain about ½ length of gonapophysis; lateral gonapophyses transverse, closely approximated, with numerous short scraping setae dorsally similar to ventral area of ectoproct and more elongate setae ventrally; pregenital plate about 4 times wider than long with small but prominent tooth at middle.
Larva (Fig. 68, 69). Flattened with length about 12 mm (not including jaws). Coloration: Pale yellow colored with dark brown pigmentation as follows: all setal bases; dorsal 3 stemmata; entire first antennal segment; maxillary lobe; mandibular teeth apically and apical curved part of mandible; head capsule dorsally with dark brown on area anterior in epistomal suture; transverse bar near posterior margin of epistomal suture; submedian dark brown spot near middle, and small submedian, converging stripe at about posterior one-half; large spot at anterolateral margin extending mesally about one-half distance where mark points anteriorly; two lateral spots before spiracular tubercle; thorax and abdomen with irregular dark speckling as in (Fig. 68, 69); all setae white with elevated dark bases except for a few dark ones on legs and brownish digging setae on sternite IX. Chaetotaxy: Long, white, weakly plumose hairs on lateral surface of head and all scoli, those laterally on head capsule shorter than antenna; mandible without abundant white setae on margins; elsewhere hairs abundant but short, plumose white setae dorsally and long fine plumose setae abundant ventrally; mandible with about 17 stout setae on elevated sockets from base to basal tooth, about three setae between tooth 1 and 2 and one seta between tooth 2 and 3; mandibles with abundant white, weakly plumose setae from near base to tooth 3; ocular tubercle with several small setae and with one prominent setae above stemmata; sternite 9 (Fig. 61) with stout black setae posteriorly, elsewhere with well-developed setae. Structure: Head almost quadrate, thickest near middle; posterior margin cordate; dorsum somewhat more convex than venter; labium strongly bilobed with broad emarginate at midline; ocular tubercle small, directed nearly laterally, broader than long; dorsal 3 stemmata smaller than others; antennal tubercle less than one-half length of ocular tubercle; antenna with about 19 segments, narrowing toward apex; scape swollen about three times longer than wide; all antennal segments longer than wide; antenna reaching far beyond end of ocular tubercle, about two times as long as basal width of jaw; labial palpus longer than basal width of mandible, first segment about three times longer than wide, longer than second but shorter than distal palpomere which is swollen with sensory orifice before middle; mandible falcate, about 1.5 times longer than head capsule, smoothly tapering to distal tooth just beyond which is strongly curved tip; three teeth located well beyond midpoint of mandible; middle tooth about as long as distal one and about 1.3 times longer than basal tooth; middle tooth usually closer to distal tooth than to basal tooth (Fig. 68); left mandible of one exceptional specimen with teeth nearly equidistant; ventral mandibular condyle bounded medially by a large curved arm of anterior end of subgenal ridge; postlabium bilobate, rounded anteriorly; broadly articulating with widely separated prelabial lobes; latter mostly straight, strongly curved along anterior margin in apical fifth; pronotum about 1.5 times broader than long, anterior margin gently curved at anterolateral margin, somewhat prolonged posteriorly; forepretarsal claws small, mesopretarsal claws somewhat larger and metapretarsal claws larger still but less than twice as long as mesothoracic claws; mesosthoracic spiracle borne on large cone-shape tubercle longer than wide; metathoracic scolus-like processes double followed by single scolus-like process on abdominal segment I, which is smaller and more slender than next scolus-like process, followed by single scolus-like process decreasing in length through abdominal segments 2–8; most scolus-like processes longer than wide except on segment 8 which is about as long as wide; spiracles not borne on tubercles; sternite 8 without odontoid processes.
Distribution. Venezuela.
Collection times. May and November.
Material studied. Holotype male, 1 male paratype, 2 female paratypes.
VENEZUELA. Falcon: 10 km north El Paují (Majoral Abajo), 15–24.V.1987, R. Miller and L. Stange, reared (2m, 1f, FSCA). Guárico: San Juan de los Morros, 24.XI.1955, Fernando Yepez (1f, FSCA).
Biology. The larval biology and adult emergence of this species is basically like that of N. lithophilus except that, under laboratory conditions, Navasoleon venezolanus is changing feeding position frequently whereas N. lithophilus is remaining motionless for weeks at a time.
Discussion. This species may be separated from others by where vein CuP+1A meets the hind margin of the forewing, the clavate antennae, lack of wing markings, and markings on the pronotum and head vertex.
Etymology. This species is named for the country of origin.
description: Published as part of Stange, Lionel A. & Miller, Robert B., 2018, A revision of the genus Navasoleon Banks (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae: Nemoleontini), pp. 1-25 in Insecta Mundi 619 on pages 15-16, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3699409