Libelloides

Abstract: First records of Libelloides rhomboideus in Albania, of the genus Bubopsis in Macedonia and Bulgaria and of the genus Deleproaophytia in Macedonia are established. New localities of all five species of Ascalaphidae on the Balkan Peninsula are reported. The new records outline the northern borders of the ranges of three species. The er- roneous information in some published data on the distribution of the treated species is corrected. The variability of Libelloides lacteus and L. macaronius and some diagnostic characters of other species are discussed. Original informa- tion on the habitats of all species is given.

Abstract: The following changes of names in the family Ascalaphidae have proved necessary. Ascalaphus, in the present sense, is replaced by Libelloides Schaffer, and Helicomitus McLachlan by Ascalaphus Fabricius.

Abstract: A short review of main cytogenetic features of insects belonging to the sister neuropteran families Myrmeleontidae (antlions) and Ascalaphidae (owlflies) is presented, with a particular focus on their chromosome numbers and sex chromosome systems. Diploid male chromosome numbers are listed for 37 species, 21 genera from 9 subfamilies of the antlions as well as for seven species and five genera of the owlfly subfamily Ascalaphinae. The list includes data on five species whose karyotypes were studied in the present work. It is shown here that antlions and owlflies share a simple sex chromosome system XY/XX; a similar range of chromosome numbers, 2n = 14-26 and 2n = 18-22 respectively; and a peculiar distant pairing of sex chromosomes in male meiosis. Usually the karyotype is particularly stable within a genus but there are some exceptions in both families (in the genera Palpares and Libelloides respectively). The Myrmeleontidae and Ascalaphidae differ in their modal chromosome numbers. Most antlions exhibit 2n = 14 and 16, and Palparinae are the only subfamily characterized by higher numbers, 2n = 22, 24, and 26. The higher numbers, 2n = 20 and 22, are also found in owlflies. Since the Palparinae represent a basal phylogenetic lineage of the Myrmeleontidae, it is hypothesized that higher chromosome numbers are ancestral for antlions and were inherited from the common ancestor of Myrmeleontidae + Ascalaphidae. They were preserved in the Palparinae (Myrmeleontidae), but changed via chromosomal fusions toward lower numbers in other subfamilies.