A New Cretaceous Dustywing Genus (Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae) with Peculiar Wing Venation.

Abstract

Simple SummaryThe Cretaceous dustywings (Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae) are valuable for understanding the early evolution of this specialized lacewing family. Here, a new genus with two new species of Coniopterygidae is described from the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber of northern Myanmar. The wing venation of the new genus is remarkably regarding the unique configuration of ScP, RA, and RP, the presence of forewing A3, and the distal gradate crossveins. The new genus stands as a Cretaceous chimera among diverse dustywings by having a combination of plesiomorphic and apomorphic characters. The species and morphological diversity of dustywings (Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae) from the Cretaceous, of which the knowledge is rapidly increasing by recent studies on the species from the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, provide valuable evidence for understanding the phylogeny and early evolution of this highly specialized lacewing lineage. Here we describe a new genus and two new species of this genus in Coniopterygidae from the mid-Cretaceous (lowermost Cenomanian) of northern Myanmar, namely Paradoxoconis szirakii gen. et sp. nov. and Paradoxoconis longipalpa gen. et sp. nov. The new genus possesses a peculiar combination of wing characters, e.g., the terminal fusion or connection between ScP and RA, the terminal connection of RA to RP, the presence of forewing A3, and the presence of a distal gradate series of crossveins. Despite uncertain subfamilial placement, this new genus morphologically resembles the extant genus Coniocompsa Enderlein, 1905 of the subfamily Aleuropteryginae and the extant genus Flintoconis Sziráki, 2007 of the subfamily Brucheiserinae. Our finding highlights the palaeodiversity of dustywings from the Cretaceous.