Vol. 91, No. 5, November & December 1980 159 NOTES ON CONIOPTERYGIDAE (NEUROPTERA) FROM THE ETHIOPIAN REGION 1 2 Victor Johnsorr ABSTRACT: Coniopteryx borealis Tjeder is recorded for the first time from the African continent. A neotype is designated for Semidalis nigrivena Eraser, and its synonymy with Semidalis mascarenica is confirmed. Upon examining specimens of Coniopterygidae in the Illinois Natural History Museum collection, two interesting specimens were found. These were one male each of Coniopteryx borealis Tjeder and Semidalis mascarenica Fraser. The specimen of C. borealis was labelled "12 mi. sw. of Mateur, Tunisia, Aug. 31, 1943, G.T. Riegel and J.H. Materne" and represents a new country and continent record. This species was previously known from Norway, Sweden, Findland, Denmark, Scotland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Romania and USSR (Meinander, 1972). The second specimen is of interest because it confirms the synonomy of Semidalis nigrivena with 5". mascarenica. Fraser described S. mascar-enica from Madagascar (1952) and S. nigrivena from Reunion Island (1957). The description of S. nigrivena was based on "a number of both sexes but mostly males from the Rempart de Belouve, Reunion, 1-55, collected by Dr. R. Paulian." He indicated that the type was deposited in the Institute de Recherche Scientifique, Madagascar. Fraser gave as inadequate description of both S. mascarenica and S. nigrivena and indicated that the 2 species were very similar. He apparently considered S. nigrivena to be a valid species based on its new insular distribution. Meinander (1972) considered S. nigrivena a synonym of S. mascare-nica from Madagascar. He concluded that the types of both species were lost as they were not in the Institut de Recherche Scientifique, Madagascar, British Museum (Natural History) or Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle. The present specimen is genitalically identical to Meinander's illustration of S. mascarenica; the collection data is identical to that of S. nigrivena given by Fraser. 1 Received May 1 , 1 980 ^The investigation reported in this paper (No. 80-7-50) is in connection with a project of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station and is published with approval of the Director. Formerly Research Assistant in the Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40546. Current Address: USDA-APHIS-PPQ, Box 22277. Lexington, Kentucky 40522. ENT. NEWS 91(5): 159-160
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