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

Ábrahám, L.: New data to the Moroccan Myrmeleontiformia fauna 77

More efficient collecting work was also assisted by three portable light traps operated by a 8 W Daishin F8T5BLB type blacklight UV tube.

Nights were extremely windy during samplings which made the field work almost impossible because it swept the flying insects away.

During the daytime, high temperatures made insects hide, therefore, the samplings could be done in the morning (till 10 am) and from the early afternoon hours (after 4 pm). Sweeping net on grass and tree or bush foliage was the most important daytime sampling method. Pit-building ant-lion larvae were collected from their pits, then hatched in the lab.

The samplings were carried out in the regularly visited sampled areas to be able to draw other ecological conclusions as well.

To support our revision, in many cases, types were loaned or type-photographs were requested from the following museums:

BMNH — The Natural History Museum, London, England,

MNHN - Museum National d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France,

MNMS - Museo Nációnál de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain,

MCSN - Museu Civico de Storia Naturale “Giacoma Doria”, Genoa, Italy,

RMNH - Nationaal Natuurhistorische Museum, Leiden, Netherlands.

The collecting periods:

1. 02.05. 2008 - 11.05. 2008 Leg: Ábrahám, L., Fábián, Gy., Rozner, Gy.

2. 21.06. 2008 - 05.07. 2008 Leg: Ábrahám, L., Bognár, L., Nagy, L.

3 22.06. 2009 - 06.07. 2009 Leg. Ábrahám, L„ Malgay, V., Szalóki, D.

4. 17.09. 2009 - 01.10. 2009 Leg: Ábrahám, L., Kisbenedek T., Orsik, M.

5. 04.11. 2009 - 04.25. 2009 Leg. Gy. Fábián, B., Maklári-Kis, A., Szappanos

6. 08.06. 2010 - 19.06. 2010 Leg: Ábrahám, L., Kisbenedek, T., Wágner, L.

To study the morphological characters, Olympus SZX9 stereo microscope was used. Habitus photographs were taken using a digital camera Nikon D 3200 equipped with a AF-S micro Nikkor 40 mm lens and the type of the flash system F&V 230D.

To examine genitalia, the caudal part of the abdomen was removed, treated with a 10% KOH solution with heating for 10 minutes and after cooling rinsed in distilled water, ft was put into glycerine for further examination and finally stored in a genital vial. For photographs, the caudal part of the abdomen was placed in a Petri dish (dia-meter: 50 mm) filled with glycerine.

Photos of morphological characters were also taken using a Olympus SZX9 stereo microscope equipped with a Alpha KL-1001 digital camera. The photos were adjusted and corrected with Adobe Photoshop software.

Results and discussion

Between 2008-2010, six field trips were organised to Morocco to study the Myrmeleontiformia fauna. Altogether 2369 Myrmeleontiformia specimens belong to 6 Nemopteridae, 53 Myrmeleontidae and 8 Ascalaphidae species were collected. During the field work, 3 new species were found and 23 species proved to be new records for the Moroccan Myrmeleontiformia fauna.