Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Válogatott tanulmányok VII. - Natura Somogyiensis 22. (Kaposvár, 2012)
Ábrahám L.: "On the other hand, what is this Eastern aeschnoides?" Morton 1926 - an undescribed Palpares species from the Eastern Mediterranean (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae)
Natura Somogyiensis 22 65-102 Kaposvár, 2012 "On the other hand, what is this Eastern aeschnoides?" (Morton 1926) - an undescribed Palpares species from the Eastern Mediterranean (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) Levente Ábrahám Somogy County Museum, Natural History Department, H-7400 Kaposvár, RO. Box 70, Hungary, e-mail: labraham@smmi.hu Ábrahám, L: "On the other hand, what is this Eastern aeschnoides?" (Morton 1926) — an undescribed Palpares species from the Eastern Mediterranean (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae). Abstract: This paper summarizes the history of Palpares libelloides (Linnaeus, 1764) and related taxa described from the Mediterranean in the neuropterological literature. Based on these results Palpares assyri- orum sp. n. from Syria, Jordan, Turkey and Israel is described. Libellula turcica Petiver & Empson, 1767 is a new homonym of Libellula Linnaeus 1758 (Odonata) (hom. n.) and a new synonym of Palpares libelloides (Linnaeus, 1764) (syn. n.). Palpares aeschnoides is a nomen nudum, only a collection name. Palpares chrys- opterus Navás, 1910 is a valid taxon and Palpares turcicus Kopak, 1976 (syn. n.) is a new junior synonym of Palpares chrysopterus Navás, 1910. Keywords: ant-lion, new species, Palpares, Mediterranean Introduction Even though the large and decorative Palpares libelloides (Linnaeus, 1764) is a well- known ant-lion species, in taxonomical, nomenclatural and faunistical literature, the status and the distribution of this species and its related taxa has been unclarified in the entomological publications for centuries. The only one taxon, "Palpares libelluloides (Linnaeus, 1767)" from Southern Europe was mentioned by Aspöck et al. (1980) in their monograph. This taxon was considered morphologically variable, and Palpares hispanus Hagen, 1860 from the Iberian Peninsula was not regarded as a separate species. Twenty years later, species status of Palpares hispanus was changed by Aspöck et al. (2001) but they emphasized that "Palpares libelluloides" and related taxa were very variable in this work. On the whole, both excellent works agreed that the taxonomical status of "Palpares libelluloides" and its closely related Palpares hispanus Hagen, 1860 is uncertain. In a recently published prominent book, Krivokhatsky (2011) is concerned with the taxonomical status of the species belonging to the Palpares genus in the Mediterranean. He came to the conclusion that the name of "Palpares libelluloides (Linnaeus, 1767)" was used for several valid taxa (Palpares hispanus Hagen, 1860, Palpares aeschnoides
