S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 55. (Budapest, 1994)

FOLIA ENTOMOLOGICA HUNGARICA ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK LV 1994 p. 355-358 Comparison of two allied green lacewing species: Chrysopa commata Kis et Újhelyi, 1965 and Chrysopa altaica Holzel, 1967 (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae) Gy. Sziráki Comparison of two allied green lacewing species: Chrysopa commata Kis et Újhelyi, 1965 and Chrysopa altaica Holzel, 1967 (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae). - As a result of investigation of the type materials some features were recognised in the male and female genitalia for the reliable distinction of the Chrysopa commata Kis et Újhelyi and C. altaica Holzel. The green lacewings Chrysopa altaica Holzel and C. commata Kis et Újhelyi belong to the Chrysopa phyllochroma species group sensu Bianchi (Alexandrova-Martynova and Bianchi 1931). Each member of this Palaearctic group are highly resemble the others. In the C. phyllochroma group the eidonomic features are usually insufficient for reliable identification. In some cases the pattern of the head pigmentation may be useful for a tentative separation of the different species, but in the case of Chrysopa commata this characteristic is extremely variable, even within the type material (Kis and Újhelyi 1965). This variability is shown also in Figs 1-6. In the original description of Chrysopa altaica Holzel, 1967 the newly described species was not compared with C. commata - in spite of their evident similarity. Later Dorochova (1973) detailed the taxonomic problems of the phyllochroma group. In her identification key she separated the C. altaica and C. commata on the basis of the relation between the width of the apodeme of the 9th tergite and the distance of this apodeme from the proximal edge of the 8th segment. However, the examination of the type material of C. commata showed, that in this species this feature was rather variable, too. Because of these uncertainties, and as the areas of C. altaica and C. commata seem to be overlapping (Aspöck et al. 1980, Makarkin 1990) the comparison of the type materials of these two species was indispensable. Now the holotype and a number of paratypes of C. commata are deposited in the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest*, while the male holotype and female paratype (allotype) of C. altaica were lent by K. Günther from the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. As a result of the investigation of the type materials I have found differences in the shape of the entoprocessus, and of the hypandrium internum, as well as in the structure of the spermatheca. * Previously this material had been placed in the collection of Dr Sándor Újhelyi