Palpares turcicus Kocak, 1976 – new name for Iranian fauna and its place in the P. libelluloides species group (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae)

We have determined in the Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection collection of two closely related species: Palpares libelluloides (Linnaeus, 1764) and P. turcicus Kocak, 1976 from Iranian provinces of Azarbayjan Sharghi, Kermanshah, Fars, Tehran, Kordestan, Markazi, Zanjan, and Lorestan, which are never recorded together in the same biotopes. New records of P. turcicus and other species of P. libelluloides species group from the countries of Transcaucasia, Asia, and Africa are presented based on the collection of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ZIN). In the P. libelluloides species group, P. libelluloides is characterized by yellow abdomen with brown longitudinal lines. Abdominal pattern of P. hispanus Hagen, 1860, P. aeshnoides (Illiger, 1807) and P. turcicus is represented by brown rings on each segment, but these species can be easily differentiated from each other by size. The widely-allopatric species P. geniculatus Navas, 1912 and P. speciosus (Linnaeus, 1758) are characterized by entirely yellow abdomen without brownish pattern. The latter two species have mainly Afro-subtropical distribution, whereas other species of the group are West Palaearctic, mostly Ancient-Mediterranean species. The traditional name Palpares libelluloides (Linnaeus, 1764) is proposed to include into the List of Available Names in Zoology in accordance with the Article 79 of ICZN. This species is considered as P. libelluloides sensu stricto; its confirmed synonyms are Myrmeleon nordmanni Kolenati, 1846 (an immature form), and var. nigriventris A. Costa, 1855 and var. nigripes Navas, 1912 (melanistic specimens), which do not form natural populations. The neotype of Myrmeleon aeshnoides Illiger in Rossi, 1807 (Jerusalem, Romanov’s collection, ZIN), and the neotype of Hemerobius speciosus Linnaeus, 1758 (the collection of the Linnaean Society of London, № 2352) are designated.