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)
74 Natura Somogyiensis The Swedish entomologist, De Geer (1752-1778) found Linnaeus system too progressive and he just partially used the binominal nomenclature in his works, often changing the names given by Linnaeus. This is how Palpares speciosus was renamed as "Myrmeleon (maculatum)" (De Geer 1773). It should be marked though that the figure in the work of De Geer (1773) (Fig. 9) is similar to the earlier depicted Palpares speciosus (Rösel 1740), where the insect was presented in a natural position, at rest, with the closed wings above the abdomen. The wing patterns of the depicted animal are, however, similar to Palpares libelloides. The specimen described by De Geer (1773) was wrongly synonymized (Fabricius 1775) by a student of Linnaeus, the Danish Fabricius (1745-1808). According to him Myrmeleon maculatum De Geer, 1773 is a junior synonym of Palpares libelloides. By Rambur (1842), however, Myrmeleon maculatum occurring in Africa is the junior synonym of Palpares speciosus, which is accepted in the present day scientific nomenclature. A thorough look at the species description of Palpares libelloides (as Myrmeleon libel- luloides) in "Systema Entomologiae” can shed some light on the wrong synonym given by Fabricius (1775) since he marked South Africa as the distribution following Linnaeus (1764, 1767). At the same time he claimed that Palpares speciosus was a somewhat variety of Palpares libelloides ("A Hemerobius speciosus Linnaei ejusdem spéciéi?") which is contradictory if the description year of the two species is considered. In his later works, Fabricius (1787,1793) reported South Africa as the area for Palpares libelloides. Presumably the false distribution data, reported by Linnaeus (1758, 1764, 1767), caused Fabricius (1775) not to separate the two species precisely. Shortly after the first major work by Fabricius (1775), a report of the species was published in German as "Myrmeleon libelluloides" in the monograph published by Sulzer (1776). While mentioning the species from Sicily he also documented the species with a very nice drawing, but the pattern on the hind wings and the body of Palpares libelloides is not typical (Fig. 10). Another German entomologist, Gmelin (1788), following the Systema Naturae by Linnaeus (1767), mentions "Myrmeleon libelluloides" as distributed in South Africa. One year later, in the third volume of his comprehensive entomological study, the French Villers (1789) referred to the species as "Myrmeleon libelluloides" and he quoted the names and the figures of former researchers, adding South of France as a new record of distribution. s Fig. 9: De Geer’s (1773) figure on "Myrmeleon (maculatum)" which was synonymised by Rambur (1842) as "Palpares speciosus"
