NEUROPTERA OF THE AMAZON BASIN Part 8

The family Berothidae is a small one, w i th about 61 species described worldwide, in 22 genera. As adults they are generally of medium size, brown in color, w i th elongate, often falcate wings and a weak, f lut ter ing f l ight. Other morphological characteristics are large, hairy tubercles on the head; absence of ocell i ; f i l i fo rm antennae; subequal wings, often with abundant pi losity; and females sometimes bearing wing scales. Trichosors are present along the wing margin. Crossvein cu-a of hindwing is long and oblique, giving the impression that Cu is apically fused, leaving a closed basal cell. In the male genitalia the ninth tergite is fused wi th the ectoproct (except in Cyrenoberotha) and the mediuncus is elongate and sometimes coiled. In more specialized Berothinae, the female ninth gonocoxites bear elongate hypocaudae.


INTRODUCTION
The family Berothidae is a small one, with about 61 species described worldwide, in 22 genera.As adults they are generally of medium size, brown in color, with elongate, often falcate wings and a weak, fluttering flight.Other morphological characteristics are large, hairy tubercles on the head; absence of ocelli; filiform antennae; subequal wings, often with abundant pilosity; and females sometimes bearing wing scales.Trichosors are present along the wing margin.Crossvein cu-a of hindwing is long and oblique, giving the impression that Cu is apically fused, leaving a closed basal cell.In the male genitalia the ninth tergite is fused with the ectoproct (except in Cyrenoberotha) and the mediuncus is elongate and sometimes coiled.In more specialized Berothinae, the female ninth gonocoxites bear elongate hypocaudae.

BIOLOGY
Only very recently has the life cycle of Berothidae been elucidated.Eggs are placed oh the ends of long stalks, either separately (Spermophorella) or in clusters of up to 12 (Lomamyia), often on tree trunks (Tjeder, 1959).For Lomamyia latipennis Carpenter, egg incubation pe riod is seven days.There are three larval instars lasting 12, 3, and 21 days respec tively (Taber & Tauber, 1968).First and third instars are active predators of termites, while the second instar is a nonfeeding stage, hanging immobile from the tip of the abdomen (Tauber & Tau ber, I. a).The cocoon is oval and trans parent, with adults emerging after 20 days (Tauber & Tauber, I.e.).Almost all records of berothid biology pertain to North American species of Lomamyia.

SYSTEM AT ICS
Two classic papers, one by Tjeder (1959), and the other by MacLeod & Adams (1967) have greatly clarified the phylogeny, morphology and higher classi fication within this family.A series of recent papers on the Asiatic and Euro pean fauna by Aspock &Asp6ck (1980, 1981a, 1981b) promises to give us more knowledge of systematics and mor phology of the Old World species.MacLeod & Adams (1967) divided the Berothidae into four subfamilies: the Cyrenoberothinae confined to Chile, the Rhachiberothinae confined to southern Africa, the Nosybinae confined to sou thern and central Africa, and the Bero thinae, which is almost cosmopolitan in tropical and-south temperate regions of the world.Furthermore, MacLeod & Ada ms (I.e.) selected 23 morphological cha racters which are variable within the Berothidae, and considered of evolutiona ry importance, and demonstrated a phylogenetic index for eight genera, belon ging to all four subfamilies.Within South America, known re cords of berothids are very few: Luis E. Pena collected 69 specimens of Cyrenoberotha penai in northern Chile between 18-27 October, 1957; a collection wi thout date or more specific locality was made of Naizema in "Patagonia"; A. C. Jensen-Haarup collected one male and one female of Naizema at Santa Rosa (37°S, 640W) in west-central Argentina in 1905; and P. Jorgensen collected one male of Naizema on 29-XI1-1907 at Potrerillos (33°S, 69QW), Argentina.
Thus, it was much to my delight and surprise that on a recent collecting trip to the Rio Trombetas, a northern tributary of the Middle Amazon, I was able to collect one male and one female berothid that belonged to neither of the genera known from South America.The se are the first published records for this family for an extensive area from Hondu ras to central Argentina, although there have been several recent collections of an undescribed, unusual berothid from Costa Rica and Venezuela (Oliver S. Flint, Jr., Phillip A. Adams, F. Fernandez-Yépez, personal communications).
LOMAMYIA TROMBETENSIS Penny, Original description based on 1 ma le, 1 female, pinned with genitalia in gly cerin.
Head: Anterior tentorial pits promi nent; labrum about twice as broad as long.Face extending only slightly below level of compound eyes.Frons yellow, with small fuscous spots at eye margin and anterior tentorial pits; scattered, erect, dark setae.Maxillary and labial pal pi dark brown, with last segment tapering to elongate, acute tip.Compound eyes re latively small, not reaching posterior mar gin of head.Vertex elevated medially, yellow with mottled dark brown, espe cially in two medial lines from between antennae to posterior margin of head and at setal bases; numerous, long yellow and fuscous setae.Antennae consisting of elongate, cylindrical, yellow scape with fuscous spot ventrally, quadrate yellow pedicel, and 94 yellow, moniliform flagellomeres, which are twice as wide as long.
Thorax: Pronotum longer than wi de; mottled yellow and fuscous, being darker along midline and setal bases; nu merous long, erect, yellow and fuscous se tae in female, abundant short yellow se tae in male.Meso -and metanota and pleural regions also mottled yellow and fuscous with long yellow and fuscous se tae.
Legs: All legs yellowish with nume rous small fuscous spots; numerous long yellow and fuscous setae.Fuscous setae becoming pale apically.Forelegs not mo dified for grasping.Two tarsal claws and arolium present.
Phylogeny: This species is clearly among the derived groups of Berothinae.The falcate wings, fused ninth tergites and ectoprocts, elongate hypocaudae of the ninth gonocoxites and elongate, thin spermathecal duct all indicate a close relationship with Lomamyia.In fact, of the 23 characters listed by MacLeod and Adams (1967), all character states are identical with Lomamyia, except that squamae are not present on the wings, which is also the case for some Lomamyia species.Thus, this species falls within the varia- bility of this genus.However, within this genus Lomamyia trombetensis appears to hold a somewhat isolated position.No other species has as many r-rs crossveins (4 to 5), nor do I know of any species with the distinctly darkened subpterostigmal spot present in this species.Further placement is made difficult by the lack of information about several of the North American Lomamyia species.
Acknowledgments: I wish to thank the personnel of ALCOA Minerapao S.A. and Billiton Metáis, S.A. for their help and courtesy during a recent visit to their operations at Cruz Alta, especially to Al bert Guirret for his personal supervision and help during our stay.Financial help has also been given by CNPq's Trópico Úmido grant n° 3224, and Polo Noroeste grant n<? 3421-292.