Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Válogatott tanulmányok 14. - Natura Somogyiensis 30. / Miscellanea 14. (Kaposvár, 2016)

Ábrahám L.: New data to the Moroccan Myrmeleontiformia (Neompteridae, Myrmeleontidae, Ascalaphidae) fauna

Abrahám, L.: New data to the Moroccan Myrmeleontiformia fauna 115

Remarks'. In the Western Mediterranean area, Neuroleon stirpis Steffan, 1975 stat. nov. is a vicariant species of Neuroleon egenus (Navás, 1914) distributed in the Eastern Mediterranean area.

At first, the later mentioned taxon was described by Navás (1903) as Myrmeleon sticti- cus Navás, 1903 from Spain, but the name is proved to be a homonym of Myrmeleon sticticus Blanchard in Blanchard & Brullé, [1845]) revealed by Steffan (1971).

Later, Navás (1914) also described this species from the East Mediterranean area namely as Neuroleon egenus (Navás, 1914) (original name: Nelees egenus Navás, 1914). The type locality can be found in Syria (Akbés) but today it is in Turkey. According to Steffan (1971), Neelees cyprius Navás, 1940 from Cyprus is a synonym of Neuroleon egenus (Navás, 1914).

At first, the name as Neuroleon egenus stirpis was mentioned by Steffan (1971) without description. Consequently, it is a nomen nudum. Later, Steffan (1975) described it as a subspecies and Stange (2004) supposed that their syntypes come from the Balkans but they were collected in the Western Mediterranean area.

According to Steffan (1975), Neuroleon egenus (Navás, 1914) can be easily differentiated from Neuroleon stirpis Steffan, 1975 stat. nov. based on the pattem of metascutum and abdomen.

The further differential characters:

Characters

Neuroleon egenus

Neuroleon stirpis

Marks below scape

continious brow line

two small spots

Meso and metanotum pattem

dominantly dark brown

about equal yellow and dark brown marks

Shape of wings

wide

narrow

Pterostigma

dominantly dark

dominantly white

Small brown spots along Cu in forewing

absent

present

Marks on tergites

smaller

larger

There is a very similar species known from the Canary Islands namely Neuroleon canariensis (Navás, 1906), its taxonomical status should be compered to Neuroleon stirpis Steffan, 1975 in the future. According to Hölzel & Ohm (1991), it is valid species and different from Neuroleon egenus. However, Monserrat (1979) cited it as Neuroleon egenus.

Distribution'. In Europe: Spain, South France and Africa: Morocco, Algeria while the distribution data of Neuroleon egenus (Navás, 1915) are known from Turkey, Syria, Cyprus, Israel (Aspöck et al. 2001) and Iran (coll. Mus. Kaposvár). The status of the species needs revision in Tunisia and Italy.

Neuroleon sp. 1

Specimens examined'. Morocco 5km from Tissint 647m W07°16’46” N29°52’20.0” 12 .06, 2010 Leg. Ábrahám L., Kisbenedek L., Wágner L. lcj; Morocco 13km SW from Agdz 1050m W06°33’51.2” N30°31’11.6” 13.06, 2010 Leg. Ábrahám L., Kisbenedek L., Wágner L. ! 2; 16.06, 2010 Leg. Ábrahám L., Kisbenedek L., Wágner L. 1S 19Remarks: It needs further revision to identify the taxon.