A contribution to knowledge of the genus Coniopteryx (Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae) in Madagascar, with descriptions of 18 new species

Abstract

Description of 18 new Coniopteryx species is given from Madagascar, and a further one (Coniopteryx (X.) botswana Meinander, 1998) is reported as new to the fauna of this country. The new species are: Coniopteryx (C.) ambalihana sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) auricularia sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) bidentatus sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) corniculata sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) crenata sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) fianarantsoana sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) geniculata sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) harinhalai sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) ihorombeana sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) microcauda sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) pseudoceylonica sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) pseudomalagasensis sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) ranomafanana sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) schizostylaris sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) spinicauda sp. n., Coniopteryx (C.) toamasinana sp. n., Coniopteryx (X.) antankarana sp. n., Coniopteryx (X.) tuleariensis sp. n. . Besides, revalidation of Coniopteryx (X.) sestertia Meinander, 1998, and necessary emendation of Coniopteryx malgasensis Sziráki, 2015 is given also. Majority of the new species belongs to the Coniopteryx lobifrons group; distributional pattern of this species group is discussed.

Integration of mitogenomic and morphological data disentangles the systematics of Pollenia and establishes a revised phylogenetic hypothesis for the Polleniidae

“…Four of these characters are related to phallus morphology, one to female terminalia, one to the secondary sexual dimorphism (Figure S2) and one to the head morphology (Table 3). Characters and character states for species were extracted from previous revisions (Jacentkovskỳ, 1941, 1942; Zumpt 1956; Lehrer 1963, 1967; Mihályi 1976; Rognes, 1987a, 1987b, 1988, 1991b, 1992a and 1992b), museum specimens, and, in the case of phallus morphology, also by dissection of male terminalia (Figures 3–5). Interpretation of character states (plesiomorphic/apomorphic) followed by Rognes (1988, 1992a).…”

“…In contrast to the Polleniidae as a whole, phylogenetic relationships within the genus Pollenia are better understood. Pollenia, especially the West Palearctic representatives, has been the subject of several revisionary works (Jacentkovskỳ, 1941(Jacentkovskỳ, , 1942Zumpt 1956;Lehrer 1963Lehrer , 1967Mihályi 1976;Rognes, 1987aRognes, , 1987bRognes, , 1988Rognes, , 1991bRognes, , 1992aRognes, , 1992bRognes, and 2010, which resulted in a species-group classification system as well as two comprehensive phylogenetic studies: one using morphological data (Rognes, 1992a) and most recently using molecular data (Szpila et al, 2022). The Pollenia species-group system, established for West Palearctic species, is based on 11 species-groups (composed of 1-9 species per group) based on shared morphology (summarized in Table 1), developed by Rognes across a series of revisions (Rognes, 1987a(Rognes, , 1987b(Rognes, , 1988(Rognes, , 1991b(Rognes, , 1992a(Rognes, , 1992b(Rognes, and 2010.…”

“…Characters and character states for species were extracted from previous revisions (Jacentkovskỳ, 1941(Jacentkovskỳ, , 1942Zumpt 1956;Lehrer 1963Lehrer , 1967Mihályi 1976;Rognes, 1987aRognes, , 1987bRognes, , 1988Rognes, , 1991bRognes, , 1992aRognes, and 1992b, museum specimens, and, in the case of phallus morphology, also by dissection of male terminalia (Figures 3-5). Interpretation of character states (plesiomorphic/apomorphic) followed by Rognes (1988Rognes ( , 1992a.…”

Approaches to Ecological Classification of Earthworms: A Review

“…We should also mention the significant contribution to the taxonomy of earthworms made by the Hungarian zoologist C. Csuzdi. On multiple occasions, he revised the taxonomy on the basis of morpho-anatomical features (which, for example, resulted in identification of an endemic monotypic genus Rhiphaeodrilus separated from the genus Perelia) and used data from molecular biology studies in taxonomy (as a result, the genus Dendrodrilus was included in the genus Bimastos) (Csuzdi, Pavlíček, 2005;Csuzdi et al, 2017). Despite the universal character of the proposed generic system, the taxonomy of earthworms continues to change at the present time as well.…”