Anchored between heaven and earth – a new flightless brown lacewing from Peru (Neuroptera, Hemerobiidae)

Abstract

Male and female of Nusalala peruanasp. nov., a flightless hemerobiid from the Andes mountain range of northern Peru, at a height of almost 4000 m, are described, figured and documented as the first record of a brachypterous, flightless species of Nusalala Navás, 1913, from this country. The other two congeneric, brachypterous species are from high altitudes in Colombia and Costa Rica and have been described in the male sex only – the females remain unknown. The coriaceous domed forewings are shared by all three brachypterous Nusalala species. The ribbon-like hindwings of the male of N. peruanasp. nov. are unique, since those of the other brachypterous males are scale-like, as are the hindwings of the female of N. peruanasp. nov. Distribution and evolutionary backgrounds of brachyptery and flightlessness in Neuropterida are discussed.