A Review of the Antlion Fauna (Neuroptera, Myrmeleontidae) of Madagascar and Analysis of Its Genesis Based on the Collection of the Zoological Institute RAS, St. Petersburg

Abstract

Abstract Based on the ZIN collection (17 species) and published data, the fauna of antlions of Madagascar is described and its origin is analyzed. An insignificant, the most ancient part of the island’s modern fauna originates from the Gondwanan fauna and characterizes Madagascar as its Cretaceous refugium. Other species or their ancestors crossed water barriers by air or water; this “feng-shui” process of Madagascar colonization with monsoons and tsunamis still continues now. Most species of the genera Centroclisis Navás, 1909, Cymothales Gerstaecker, 1894, Neuroleon Navás, 1909, Creoleon Tillyard, 1918, Myrmeleon Linnaeus, 1767, and Cueta Navás, 1911 recorded from Madagascar are common with the African continent, mainly with East Africa. The repeated ancient and recent penetration of African species to Madagascar sometimes led to isolation of taxa and subsequent speciation. The Madagascan endemics Palpares insularis McLachlan, 1894 and P. amitinus Kolbe, 1906 probably originated from a single African ancestor from the Palpares insularis – tristis group, which reached Madagascar in the Neogene. A similar way of origin can be hypothesized for other endemic species of the genus Palpares and for members of the Centroclisis maillardi (McLachlan, 1873) group, including several similar species, which must have separated from the panAfrican Centroclisis distincta (Rambur, 1842). The modern Madagascan subendemics also include the monotypic genus Neguitus Navás, 1912, close to Neuroleon , with the autochthonous species Neguitus calcaratus Navás, which probably arose in the Oligocene–Holocene on the island and later spread onto the continent with storms. The largest representatives of the endemic Gondwanan fauna, Macroleon validus (McLachlan, 1894), Crambomorphus grandidieri Weele, 1907b, and Palparellus voeltzkowi (Kolbe, 1906), the latter belonging to the endemic subgenus Palpagretus subgen. n., have a more ancient, Cretaceous–Paleocene Gondwanan origin, and their gigantism is considered a plesiomorphic feature. A Gondwanan origin is also assumed for the monotypic tribe Voltorini with the genus Voltor Navás. The endemic monotypic genus Lybekius Navás probably originated from the ancestral lineage of the tribe Pseudoformicaleontini in East Gondwana. The Oriental connections of the Madagascan endemics are less obvious, but the origin of the endemic genera Madagascarleon Fraser, 1951 and Doblina Navás, 1927 is associated with the breakup of the East Gondwana and Indigascar plates in the Cretaceous. The Madagascan endemic Paraglenurus pinnula (Auber, 1955) and the Indonesian P. scopifer (Gerstaecker, 1888) probably descended from the Oriental ancestor of numerous species on East Gondwana before the separation of Indigascar. The endemic species Pseudoformicaleo olsoufieffi (Navás, 1934) also has Australo-Oriental connections. The monotypic subgenus Palpagretus Krivokhatsky, subgen. n. is erected in Palparellus for Palparellus voeltzkowi (Kolbe, 1906). A new synonymy is established: Syngenes maritimus (Needham, 1913) = S. dolichocercus Navás, 1914, syn. n. Two color morphs are distinguished: Syngenes maritimus morpha typica with melanized spots on the CuA -anastomoses on the forewings, and S. maritimus morpha dolichocercus Navás without such spots. New combinations are formed: Centroclisis rixosa (Navás, 1912), comb. n. (ex Sogra ) and Macroleon madagascariensis (Weele, 1908), comb. n. (ex Formicaleo ).