The puzzling, rarely encountered European lacewings Chrysoperla ankylopteryformis and C. renoni (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae): one species or two?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Two of the most intriguing yet poorly understood taxa in the Chrysoperla carnea-group of green lacewings are the European species (alternatively, forms or ecotypes) known as Chrysoperla renoni and C. ankylopteryformis. These two rare taxa have been variously combined and separated by systematists over the years, but their taxonomic status remains controversial, partly because the two have very unusual characteristics, and partly because they are simply difficult to find in nature. Here, we introduce new observations and experimental results, gathered from living individuals collected at new localities in Hungary (C. renoni) and Spain (C. ankylopteryformis). These data encompass duetting song phenotype, mate choice and species recognition, body colour, pretarsal claw dimensions, wing setal length, and predominant habitat associations. The inheritance of several of these traits is also explored, by hybridising each of the two focal taxa with their abundant, co-occurring relative in the carnea-group, C. pallida. Our findings support recognition of C. renoni and C. ankylopteryformis each as valid, independent species, thereby also raising the latter species from its current synonymy with C. renoni (formally, Chrysoperla ankylopteryformis Monserrat & Díaz-Aranda, 1989 stat. rev.). We propose an evolutionary hypothesis to explain the reproductive isolation of these species from one another, as well as from C. pallida. https://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7800468B-0E79-4634-B523-FDF18BC3EC95