Abstract
Approximately 340 species of ten families of Neuroptera have been recorded from Mexico. The Tacaná volcano, reaching an elevation of 4092 m a.s.l., is the northernmost representative of the Central American Nucleus volcanic range. Recent survey efforts of the Neuroptera diversity of the Tacaná volcano, Chiapas, along an altitudinal gradient, increased the known fauna of this order in Mexico by 31 species and two genera: Biramus Oswald, 1993 (Hemerobiidae), and Titanochrysa Sosa & Freitas, 2012 (Chrysopidae), with extension of the known distributional range of 25 species of five families. Most of the new country records are from species previously known only from Central and South America. The lacewing fauna of Chiapas is updated from 91 to 147 species. The Neuroptera of the Tacaná volcano is mostly Neotropical with some taxa of Nearctic affinity restricted to medium and high elevations. More than 80% of the Tacaná volcano lacewing species also occur in the Brazilian subregion, especially the Mesoamerican and Pacific domains. Neuropteran species were recorded from 650 to more than 3500 m a.s.l. A higher species richness was present between 600 and 1700 m, with a few species occurring at altitudes above 3000 m. A species checklist and an identification key to the genera of Neuroptera of the Tacaná volcano are provided.
Highlights
Academic Editor: Luc LegalReceived: 28 September 2021Accepted: 22 October 2021Published: 26 October 2021Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Neuropterans are widely distributed, holometabolous insects, present in most terrestrial biomes of the tropical and temperate regions
More than 80% of the Tacaná volcano lacewing species occur in the Brazilian subregion, especially the Mesoamerican and Pacific domains
This study aims to increase the knowledge on the Mexican Neuroptera fauna, along an altitudinal gradient of the Tacaná volcano; it is hoped that an updated checklist and an identification key will help reduce the taxonomic impediment for the country, as well as to contribute to understanding the local and general distribution pattern of the different lacewing species
Summary
Academic Editor: Luc LegalReceived: 28 September 2021Accepted: 22 October 2021Published: 26 October 2021Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Neuropterans (lacewings) are widely distributed, holometabolous insects, present in most terrestrial biomes of the tropical and temperate regions. Lacewing adults can feed on plant material, most of them, and all their larvae, are predators of small soft-bodied invertebrates, which makes several families, such as Chrysopidae, Hemerobiidae, and Coniopterygidae, excellent biological control agents of agricultural pests [1,2]. Studies on the Neuroptera fauna of Mexico have been scattered for decades, with infrequent works by European and American entomologists that collaterally built a record of the fauna. The Spanish Jesuit priest Longinos Navás described several species between 1911 and 1936, followed by the works of other American, European, and Latin
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