Indopalpares pardus ( Rambur, 1842 )

Indopalpares pardus ( Rambur, 1842) View in CoL ( Figs 1–4 View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3 View Figure 4 ).

Palpares pardus Rambur, 1842:375 (Odescr) View in CoL , Needham, 1909:200 (Dist), Sala de Castellarnau, 1946:122 (Dist), Ghosh & Sen, 1977:316 (Chlist), Ghosh, 1977:313 (Dist), 1983:296 (Dist), 1984:12 (Mon). Type locality: India ( Maharashtra: Mumbai); Myrmeleon expertus Walker, 1853:311 (Odescr) View in CoL , Banks, 1913:188 (Syn). Type locality: Unknown; Myrmeleon nepalensis Hagen, 1866:444 (Odescr) View in CoL , Stange, 2004:40 (Syn). Type locality: Unknown; Palpares pardus partitus Banks, 1911b:100 (Odescr) View in CoL , Stange, 2004:40 (Syn). Type locality: India ( Bombay, Bassein Fort); Palpares pardus asanai Kuwayama, 1933:44 (Odescr) View in CoL , Stange 2004:40 (Syn). Type locality: India ( Maharashtra; Mumbai); Palpares pardus stellatus Navás, 1912a:223 (Odescr) View in CoL , Stange, 2004:40 (Syn). Type locality: Sri Lanka; Indopalpares pardus ( Rambur, 1842) View in CoL – Insom & Carfi, 1988:77 (Comb), Ghosh, 1991:92 (Dist), 1998:134 (Dist), 2000:72 (Mon), Chandra & Sharma, 2009:14 (Chlist), Chandra & Thilak, 2009:72 (Dist), Chandra et al., 2011:156 (Dist), Sharma & Chandra, 2012:486 (Dist), Sharma & Chandra, 2013:164 (Dist), Chandra et al., 2014:71 (Dist), Singh et al., 2020:505 (Dist), Wachkoo et al., 2024:60 (Dist).

Materials examined. 4♂♂, 3♀♀, INDIA, Kerala State, Malappuram District, Vazhayur , 76 m, 11°12'23.24"N, 75°54'28.51"E, 21.XI.2020, 24.X.2021, 14.XI.2021. leg.: Suryanarayanan. T.B., Mohammed Ramees. K., SERLNR104, SERLNR209, SERLNR210, SERLNR211, SERLNR212, SERLNR232, SERLNR233 GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis. Male body length larger than female. Eyes remarkably large, width 1.4x longer than inter-ocular distance in frontal view. Palpimacula oval, not reaching tip of labial palp. Pronotum yellow, medially with a longitudinal dark-brown stripe. General colour of body brown. Sub-apical marking not reaching hind margin in hindwing. Legs yellow, tarsi dark-brown; tibial spur as long as tarsal segments 1–3 together.

Redescription. Male (n=4): Body length: 41–42 mm; forewing length: 44–45 mm, width 14 mm; hindwing: length 42–43 mm, width 12 mm. Female (n=3): Body length: 35–36 mm; forewing length: 42– 43 mm, width: 13 mm; hindwing length: 40–41 mm, width: 12 mm ( Fig. 1A–B View Figure 1 ).

Head ( Fig. 2A–C View Figure 2 ). Vertex yellow, medially divided by dark-brown line, short black setae. Frons brown with dark-brown transversal stripe below and above scapus, with black setae, inter-antennal marking dark-brown, anterior tentorial pits brown. Gena yellow with black setae. Clypeus yellow, covered with long black setae; labrum, mandible dark-brown with black setae; maxillary and labial palps light-brown with long black setae. Eyes brownish-black, large, wider than half of head width. Antenna black, longer than length of head and prothorax combined; scape dark-brown; pedicel reddish-brown with light-brown distal annulations; flagellomeres annulated with dark-brown black setae. Club black, thicker at apex than at base.

Thorax ( Fig. 2B View Figure 2 ). Pronotum much wider than long, yellow, medially with longitudinal dark-brown stripe, covered with long black setae on anterior and posterior margins; mesonotum and metanotum subdominantly dark-brown with small yellow markings, covered with long yellow and brown hairs on distal margins.

Wings ( Fig. 2D View Figure 2 ). Forewing tips subacute and straight below, anal area obtuse, anal margin slightly concave, venation dense, scattered dark-brown spots throughout wing surface. Venation covered with short sparse brown setae. Costa dark-brown with short dense dark-brown setae. Costal area with single rows of cells, cells longer than wide, with discontinuous dark-brown shaded patches. Cross-veins simple near base, but 1-2 bifurcated cross-veins in front of pterostigma. Pterostigma with 9-10 veins, veins bifurcated basally and simple distally, pale basally, brown distally. Subcosta and R dark-yellow alternating dark-brown at cross-veins. 12 branches in radial sector, 5 cross-veins in front of origin of Rs. Mp, Mp 1 and Cua, Cua 1 also dark-yellow alternating dark-brown veins. Cross-veins dominantly yellow and highly shaded in basal medio-cubital area. Cubital fork ca. 30°, acute enough. A 1, A 2, and A 3 yellow basally and brown distally; between A 2 and A 3 with 2 cells, A 1, A 2, and A 3 bifurcated distally.

Membrane covered with scattered large dark-brown spots, relatively smaller spots than hindwing. Hindwing C yellow with short dark dense brown setae. 1 cross-vein bifurcated in front of pterostigma otherwise simple, both ends brown. Pterostigma with 2–3 bifurcated veins, dominantly faint yellow. Subcosta and R pale-yellow, with alternating dark-brown at cross-veins. 10–11 branches in radial sector, 6–7 cross-veins in front of origin of Rs. Media posterior, Mp 1 pale-yellow but small dark-brown sections at meeting points with cross-veins. Cua, Cua 1 dominantly dark-brown. Cross-veins dominantly brown basally yellow distally in medio-cubital area. Membrane covered with scattered large dark-brown bands, relatively much larger ones than on forewing.

Legs ( Fig. 2E–F View Figure 2 ). Foreleg long, hindleg short and strong. Legs dominantly brownish-yellow with black hairs. Coxae dark-brown densely covered with long black hairs. Trochanter light-brown. Fore, mid and hind femora yellow, covered with upstanding long black bristles and short black hairs. Femora longer than tibiae. Fore and mid tibiae generally yellow, covered with long black bristles and short black hairs. Hind tibia yellow, covered with long black hairs and short yellow hairs. Tibial spurs almost straight, reddish-brown, as long as tarsomeres 1–3 together. Tarsi black, covered with long black setae. Tarsal claws slightly curved, reddish-brown, half long as tarsal segment 5.

Abdomen. Shorter than hindwing, dark-brown, covered with short black setae and long black hairs. Posterior margin of each tergum with dark-brown and pale brown longitudinal rings. Sternites dark-brown with long black hairs.

Male terminalia and genitalia ( Fig. 3A–D View Figure 3 ). In lateral view, tergum 9 subquadrate; ectoproct base oval with evenly arched cylindrical processus, covered with medium long black hairs; tip of processus blunt. In ventral view, sternite 9 triangular-shaped, covered with black hairs, at base of ectoproct processus one rigid black bristle directed inwards. Caudal part two-thirds of processus, covered with strong pointed black setae inwardly. Genitalia as in Figure 3C–D View Figure 3 in dorsal and ventral views. In ventral view, special sensory bulla with short black hairs between gonocoxites 9.

Female terminalia ( Fig. 3E–F View Figure 3 ). In lateral view, tergum 8 and 9 quadrate, ectoproct ovoid plate, covered with stout black setae caudo-ventrally. In ventral view, gonocoxite 8 short, covered with long black hairs; gonocoxite 9 club-shaped, covered with some stout setae on margins.

Distribution. For distribution data, we cite only the publication that first mentions the occurrence of the species in a country. India ( Rambur 1842), Myanmar ( New, 2003), Pakistan ( Iqbal & Yousuf, 1990), Sri Lanka ( Navás 1912a).

Flight period and habitat. Adults are active at night, attracted by artificial light. In the daytime, it sits on grass blades and bushes at rest ( Fig. 4A–B View Figure 4 ). The habitat of the larva is surrounded by semi-closed grassland in laterite soil with an altitude below 100 m. It is not a pit-building species. The adult flight period in India is mainly observed during January , March , July , August , September , October, and November based on the present study and the data in published literature ( Fig. 15 View Figure 15 ) .

Distribution in India ( Fig. 16 View Figure 16 ). Bihar (Purnia, Pusa), Chhattisgarh (Bilaspur, Kabirdham, Koriya, Raipur, Surguja), Goa (Mollem), Gujarat (Surat), Himachal Pradesh (Kinnaur), Karnataka (Bangalore), Kerala (Vazhayur), Madhya Pradesh (Balaghat, Bhopal, Chhindwara, Damoh, Hoshangabad, Khandwa, Khargone, Mandla, Narmadapuram, Shahdol, Umaria), Maharashtra (Mumbai, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Satara), Odisha (Angul, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Khordha, Puri, Sambalpur), Rajasthan (Chittorgarh), Sikkim, Uttarakhand (Almora, Dehradun), West Bengal (Bankura, Birbhum, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Purulia), Himalayan and Peninsular sectors of India.