The oldest Inocelliidae (Raphidioptera) from the Eocene of western North America

Abstract

AbstractOne new genus of Inocelliidae (Raphidioptera) with one new species and one undetermined specimen is described from the Eocene of North America: Paraksenocellia borealis new genus, new species from the early Eocene (Ypresian) Okanagan Highlands shale at Driftwood Canyon, British Columbia, Canada (a forewing), and Paraksenocellia species from the middle Eocene (Lutetian) of the Coal Creek Member of the Kishenehn Formation, northwestern Montana, United States of America (a hind wing). These are the oldest records of the family. The new genus possesses many character states that are rare in Inocelliidae, e.g., a very long pterostigma extending to ScP in both the forewings and hind wings; the forewing subcostal space has three crossveins; the forewing and hind wing AA1 are deeply forked; the crossvein between CuA and CuP is located far distad the crossvein 1r-m. Paraksenocellia is confidently a member of the Inocelliidae, as it possesses a proximal shift of the basal crossvein 1r-m (connecting R and M) in the forewing and the loss of the basal crossvein 1r-m in the hind wing, both apomorphies of the family. It shares some character states with the Mesozoic Mesoraphidiidae, which we consider to be mostly stem-group plesiomorphies.