Larvae of Abachrysa eureka (Banks) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae: Belonopterygini): descriptions and a discussion of the evolution of myrmecophily in Chrysopidae

Abstract

Here we describe the first and third instars and the egg of the New World chrysopid Abachrysa eureka (Banks). Like other members of the tribe Belonopterygini, this species is myrmecophilic. Comparisons of Abachrysa larval and egg characteristics with those reported from four other belonopterygine genera indicate that Abachrysa more closely resembles the Old World Calochrysa and Italochrysa than the New World Vieira and Nacarina. The three genera Abachrysa, Calochrysa and Italochrysa all have large eggs, accelerated embryonic development, and an elaborate set of morphological modifications for larval debris carrying, an important defense against ant attack. This pattern of shared features is consistent with the phylogenies recovered in recent molecular studies that place the New World genera Vieira and Nacarina basal to Abachrysa and the Old World genera. Our assessment of current morphological information in relation to the molecular studies indicates the following sequence: (i) The form of belonopterygine myrmecophily that is currently expressed in the basal lineages (Nacarina and perhaps Vieira) originated in the New World and does not involve elaborate larval modifications for debris carrying. (ii) Myrmecophily that is based on a correlated set of developmental and morphological traits subserving debris carrying evolved in the New World when Abachrysa diverged. (iii) Subsequently, the debris-carrying clade of Belonopterygini underwent a significant radiation in the Old World, but not in the New World.

The New World Belonopterygini (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae): descriptions of a new genus and species from the West Indies and comparisons among the genera

“…(iii) The phylogeny of the tribe has been shaped by the evolution of its unique lifestyle-myrmecophily. As stated above, these proposals are consistent with evidence from two independent sources-molecular analyses (Garzón-Orduña et al 2019;Winterton et al 2019, and literature cited therein) and studies of larval morphology and natural history (Principi 1943(Principi , 1946New 1983New , 1986Brooks 1984;Tauber & Winterton 2014;Tauber et al 2006;Tauber et al 2020). Unfortunately, a phylogenetic study focused on the adult morphology of the clade is lacking, and the tribe needs a broadly based comparative analysis with careful attention to structural detail in the adults.…”

“…Thus, the gonarcal "hood" of Vieira may be homologous with the parameres of other belonopterygine genera. It appears that in Vieira the paired arms of the parameres have fused in such a way that they form three sides of a roughly quadrangular structure that is open at the base, rather than the typical V-shaped structure that is seen in A. eureka, some Nacarina spp, and some Old World belonopterygine genera (see Tjeder 1966;Brooks & Barnard 1990;Freitas & Penny 2001;Tauber et al 2006Tauber et al , 2020Sosa & Tauber 2017;and Figs 17, 18 here).…”

“…During the course of this study, the definition of an important male genital structure, the parameres, was reexamined and reinterpreted. In previous work on the Vieira species (Tauber et al 2006(Tauber et al , 2020Sosa & Tauber 2017), I failed to recognize the similarities between the "hood", a term used for the four Vieira species, and the parameres of other belonopterygine genera (e. g., Tjeder 1966). The hood was defined as an articulated, sclerotized, quadrate structure having three sclerotized lengths, associated with the gonarcus and mediuncus.…”

“…The green lacewing tribe Belonopterygini (Chrysopidae: Chrysopinae) currently has four genera in the New World and ~ten in the Old World (Brooks & Barnard 1990, Winterton & Brooks 2015, Oswald 2020. Recent studies based on molecular phylogenetics and larval morphology yielded congruent hypotheses for the evolution of the tribe (Garzón-Orduña et al 2019;Winterton et al 2019, Tauber et al 2020. Specifically, these studies proposed that: (i) Within the tribe, the New World genera are basal to the Old World clade, with Vieira Navás and Nacarina Navás both basal to the monotypic Abachrysa Banks.…”

Papers published in Zootaxa concerning Neuropterida

“…Over 190 papers addressing Neuroptera and Raphidioptera have been published in Zootaxa (29 of them are open access), but we do not list individually list those papers here. However, one of us (AL) has been the subject editor of the section since 2015 and has been able to directly follow its quantitative and qualitative growth in various sectors related to fauna (Canbulat, 2007;Garland & Kevan, 2007;Hassan et al, 2019), larval morphology (Satar et al, 2007, Zhang et al, 2013, Badano & Pantaleoni, 2014aTauber, 2014;Matsuno & Yoshitomi, 2016;Zheng & Liu, 2020;Tauber et al, 2020), biology (Devetak et al, 2010(Devetak et al, , 2013Tauber et al, 2012), the solution of nomenclatural problems (Tauber & Flint, 2010;Michel & Akoudjin, 2011;Mochizuki et al, 2017;Tauber et al, 2018, Pantaleoni & Loru, 2018Duelli & Obrist, 2019, Duelli & Henry, 2020, and local family reviews (Zhang et al, 2014a, b;Ardila-Camacho & Garcia, 2015;Carvalho Assmar & Falcão Salles, 2017;Bakkes et al, 2017;Li et al, 2018). Some faunal contributions have been both regional (Snyman et al, 2018) and worldwide (Winterton et al, 2019) in coverage.…”