Variation in the terminalia of <I>Neohermes concolor</I> with a key to males of <I>Neohermes</I> in eastern North America (Megaloptera: Corydalidae: Chauliodinae)

Abstract

Males of Neohermes concolor (Davis) from the interior highlands of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri, and from Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky exhibited considerable variation in male terminalia. Differences occurred in the size of the dorsal membrane of the ninth sternite and in the shape of the tenth tergite (anal plate) which varied from rounded to truncate shaped. This observed variation does not appear to be geographically correlated. Females of N. concolor did not exhibit broad variation in terminalia. Little variation was observed among males of N. angusticollis (Hagen) and N. matheri Flint. The broad range of variation observed in the terminalia of N. concolor could result in misidentification by collectors who rely only on the shape of the anal plate rather than the more constant shape of the aedeagus.