Taxonomic notes on owlflies from Pakistan (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae Ascalaphinae)
Author
Hassan, Muhammad Asghar
Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Author
Liu, Xingyue
Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
text
Zootaxa
2021
2021-05-17
4970
3
401
452
journal article
6265
10.11646/zootaxa.4970.3.1
47aa6d7b-d71f-43b3-8587-453e07fa1c4b
1175-5326
4766543
50B110AA-35A4-4F96-9C00-22C6F63BF463
Genus
Glyptobasis
McLachlan, 1873
Glyptobasis
McLachlan, 1873a: 268
.
Type
species:
Ascalaphus
(
Ogcogaster
)
dentifer
Westwood, 1847: 69
. Subsequent designation by
McLachlan, 1873b: 402
.
Diagnosis.
Glyptobasis
is similar to
Acheron
in having the distinct lateral spines on the basal flagellomeres in male and similar to
Nousera
Navás
by the presence of a distinct triangular projection on the anal area of forewing. The genus can be distinguished from
Acheron
by the presence of the distinct triangular projection on the anal area of forewing and from
Nousera
by the presence of distinct lateral spines on the basal antennal segments in male.
Note.
Glyptobasis
is represented by eight species which are mostly restricted to South Asia (5 species) and Southeast Asia (3 spp.). The greatest diversity of this genus occurs in
India
(5 spp.) and
Myanmar
(3 spp.). However, the discovery of members of this genus, i.e.,
Glyptobasis dentifera
(
Westwood, 1847
)
, from
Pakistan
suggests that the fauna of eastern
Pakistan
is of Oriental affinity. The specimen we examined agrees with the photographs of
syntypes
of
G. dentifera
in
Tauber
et al.
(2019)
in regard to general morphology, except for slight color variations in the wing membrane, which are slightly brownish along the costal region in forewing and also on the apical region of hind wing in the photographs of
syntypes
. In our specimen the wings are completely hyaline. For now, we treat our specimen as
Glyptobasis dentifera
, based on comparison with photographs provided by
Tauber
et al.
(2019)
and hope that future discovery of a male from
Pakistan
will yield information on the correct identification. The similar variability of color patterns on wing membrane has also been noticed in some other split-eyed owlfly species, such as
Acheron longus
(
Walker, 1853
)
, by
Tauber
et al.
(2019
: figs 15A–C) and
Ábrahám (2008b)
, and
Ogcogaster tessellata
(
Westwood, 1847
)
(
Figs 14A–C
,
15A–D
) in the present study.