Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Válogatott tanulmányok V. - Natura Somogyiensis 17. (Kaposvár, 2010)
ÁBRAHÁM, L.: Rövid faunisztikai beszámoló Sokotrai-szigetvilág hangyaleső és rablópille faunájáról Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae, Ascalaphidae)
Natura Somogyiensis 17 177-192 Kaposvár, 2010 Short report on the fauna of ant-lion and owl-fly (Neuroptera) from Socotra Archipelago LEVENTE ÁBRAHÁM Somogy County Museum, Natural History Department, H-7400 Kaposvár, RO. Box 70, Hungary, e-mail: labraham@smmi.hu ÁBRAHÁM , L. Short report on the fauna of ant-lion and owl-fly (Neuroptera) from Socotra Archipelago. Abstract: In 2009, seven ant-lion and one owl-fly species and subspecies were collected in Socotra Islands (Yemen). Half of the collected species are endemic. Myrmeleon saldaitisi sp. n. is described and compared to Myrmeleon fasciatus (Navás, 1912) and Myrmeleon sanaanus (Navás, 1929). Description of Myrmeleon hyalinus isolatus ssp. n. is given and its local population is separated from the other subspecies. Differential diagnosis is given for Centroclisis lineata (Kirby 1903) and Centroclisis speciosa Holzel, 1983. Endemic ant-lions Echthromyrmex insularis Kimmins, 1961, Centroclisis lineata (Kirby, 1903) and Neuroleon socotranus (Taschenberg, 1883) are illustrated by figures and photos. Keywords: new species, Neuroptera, Yemen, Socotra Introduction Socotra Archipelago situates 330 km from Somali Peninsula (the Horn of Africa) and 450 km from the Arabian Peninsula in the Arabian Sea. Archipelago consist two larger and two smaller islands and two rocky islets. The main island of Socotra is 135 km long and in average of 33 km wide, the highest area of Jabal Haggeher, its highest point is Mount Haghier with 1.526 m above the sea level. The basal plate of Socotra is a huge granite block which originates from the ancient Gondwana. The islands, which is practically a large granite mountain is surrounded by a limestone plateau. Furthermore sandstones and coral limestone are also important component of the smaller islands. More than 23 million year ago, the archipelago separated from the African continent. Later, during the last Ice Age, the four islands of Socotra were connected (BEYDOUN & BICHAN 1970). TASCHENBERG (1883) studied firstly the Neuroptera fauna of Socotra and described one ant-lion and one endemic tail-wing species. Later, KIRBY (1903) reported the occurrence of one other new ant-lion species. Some 60 years later, KIMMINS (1960) completed the checklist of Neuroptera of Socotra listing 10 species. In 1974, two new tail-wings species were described by TJEDER (1974). WHITTINGTON (2002) recorded one new species for the fauna of Socotra and identified other four taxa in generic level. At the turn of the Millennium, one of the latest summaries on the endemic species-rich fauna of Socotra was carried out by WRANIK (1999, 2000).
