The second species of Rudiaeschna (Odonata, Rudiaeschnidae) discovered in the Lower Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia, Northeast China

Abstract

Rudiaeschna jarzembowskii sp. nov., the second species of the small aeshnopteran family Rudiaeschnidae, is described from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation at the Liutiaogou locality, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, NE China. The new species differs from the type species of the family, namely Rudiaeschna limnobia, in possessing less cells and crossveins in nearly all parts of forewing. It also shows a distally forked vein RP2, a character that was previously only known in taxa of the much more recent and derived aeshnopteran family Aeshnidae.