Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 4103 No. 4: 14 Apr. 2016
Type: Article
Published: 2016-04-14
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4103.4.1
Page range: 301–324
Abstract views: 37
PDF downloaded: 1

New genera and species of the minute snakeflies (Raphidioptera: Mesoraphidiidae: Nanoraphidiini) from the mid Cretaceous of Myanmar

Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Three Gorges Entomological Museum, P.O. Box 4680, Chongqing 400015, China
Neuropterida Raphidiomorpha taxonomy Burmese amber Mesozoic

Abstract

The Mesozoic amber snakeflies are important for understanding the early evolution and phylogeny of Raphidioptera. Here we describe three new genera and four new species of the extinct family Mesoraphidiidae from the mid Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar, including Dolichoraphidia aspoecki gen. et sp. nov., Dolichoraphidia engeli gen. et sp. nov., Rhynchoraphidia burmana gen. et sp. nov., and Burmoraphidia reni gen. et sp. nov. All these species, together with the previously described species (i.e., Nanoraphidia electroburmica Engel, 2002) from Burmese amber, belong to the mesoraphidiid tribe Nanoraphidiini based on the minute body-size and the swollen tibiae. A key to all species of Nanoraphidiini is provided. A brief discussion on the genital morphology of Mesoraphidiidae is also given.

 

References

  1. Aspöck, H. (1998) Distribution and biogeography of the order Raphidioptera: updated facts and a new hypothesis. Acta Zoologica Fennica, 209, 33–44.

    Aspöck, H., Aspöck, U. & Rausch, h. (1991) Die Raphidiopteren der Erde. Eine monographische Darstellung der Systematik, Taxonomie, Biologie, Ökologie und Chorologie der rezenten Raphidiopteren der Erde, mit einer zusammenfassenden Übersicht der fossilen Raphidiopteren (Insecta: Neuropteroidea). Vol. 1 & 2. Goecke & Evers, Krefeld, 730 pp. & 550 pp.

    Aspöck, H., Liu, X.Y. & Aspöck, U. (2012) The family Inocelliidae (Neuropterida: Raphidioptera): A review of present knowledge. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für allgemeine und angewandte Entomologie, 18, 565–573.

    Aspöck, U. & Aspöck, H. (2004) Two significant new snakeflies from Baltic amber, with discussion on autapomorphies of the order and its included taxa (Raphidioptera). Systematic Entomology, 29, 11–19.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.2004.00245.x

    Aspöck, U. & Aspöck, H. (2008) Phylogenetic relevance of the genital sclerites of Neuropterida (Insecta: Holometabola). Systematic Entomology, 33, 97–127.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.2007.00396.x

    Bechly, G. & Wolf-Schwenninger, K. (2011) A new fossil genus and species of snakefly (Raphidioptera: Mesoraphidiidae) from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber, with a discussion of snakefly phylogeny and fossil history. Insect Systematics & Evolution, 42, 221–236.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187631211X568164

    Engel, M.S. & Ren, D. (2008) New snakeflies from the Jiulongshan Formation of Inner Mongolia, China (Raphidioptera). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 81, 188–193.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.2317/JKES-802.19.1

    Engel, M.S. (2002) The smallest snakefly (Raphidioptera: Mesoraphidiidae) A new species in Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, with a catalog of fossil snakeflies. American Museum Novitates, 3363, 1–22.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2002)363%3C0001:TSSRMA%3E2.0.CO;2

    Grimaldi, D.A., Engel, M.S. & Nascimnene, P.C. (2002) Fossiliferous Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Burma): Its discovery, biotic diversity, and paleontological significance. American Museum Novitates, 3361, 1–77.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2002)361%3C0001:FCAFMB%3E2.0.CO;2

    Jepson, J.E., Coram, R.A. & Jarzembowski, E.A. (2011) New snakeflies (Insecta: Raphidioptera) from the Lower Cretaceous of the UK, Spain and Brazil. Palaeontology, 54, 385–395.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01038.x

    Jepson, J.E., Coram, R.A. & Jarzembowski, E.A. (2009) Raphidioptera (Insecta: Neuropterida) from the Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group, Dorset, UK. Cretaceous Research, 30, 527–532.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2008.09.006

    Kukalová-Peck, J. & Lawrence, J.F. (2004) Relationships among coleopteran suborders and major endoneopteran lineages: evidence from hind wing characters. European Journal of Entomology, 101, 95–144.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.14411/eje.2004.018

    Liu, X.Y., Makarkin, V.N., Yang, Q. & Ren, D. (2013) A remarkable new genus of basal snakeflies (Insecta: Raphidioptera: Priscaenigmatomorpha) from the Early Cretaceous of China. Cretaceous Research, 45, 306–313.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2013.06.001

    Liu, X.Y., Ren, D. & Yang, D. (2014) New transitional fossil snakeflies from China illuminate the early evolution of Raphidioptera. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 14, 84.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-14-84

    Makarkin, V.N. & Archibald, S.B. (2014) A revision of the late Eocene snakeflies (Raphidioptera) of the Florissant Formation, Colorado, with special reference to the wing venation of the Raphidiomorpha. Zootaxa, 3784 (4), 401–444.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3784.4.4

    Martynov, A.V. (1925) To the knowledge of fossil insects from Jurassic beds in Turkestan. 1. Raphidioptera. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Series 6, 19, 233–246.

    Pérez-de la Fuente, R., Nel, A., Peñalver, E. & Delclòs, X. (2010) A new Early Cretaceous snakefly (Raphidioptera: Mesoraphidiidae) from El Soplao amber (Spain). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 46, 108–115.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00379271.2010.10697644

    Pérez-de la Fuente, R., Peñalver, E., Delclòs, X. & Engel, M.S. (2012) Snakefly diversity in Early Cretaceous amber from Spain (Neuropterida, Raphidioptera). ZooKeys, 204, 1–40.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.204.2740

    Perrichot, V. & Engel, M.S. (2007) Early Cretaceous snakefly larvae in amber from Lebanon, Myanmar, and France (Raphidioptera). American Museum Novitates, 3598, 1–11.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2007)3598[1:ECSLIA]2.0.CO;2

    Shi, G., Grimaldi, D.A., Harlow, G.E., Wang, J., Wang, J., Yang, M., Lei, W., Li, Q. & Li, X. (2012) Age constraint on Burmese amber based on U-Pb dating of zircons. Cretaceous Research, 37, 155–163.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2012.03.014

    Xia, F.Y., Yang, G.D., Zhang, Q.Q., Shi, G.L. & Wang, B. (2015) Amber – Lives through Time and Space. Science Press, Beijing, 197 pp.