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Issue: Vol. 8 No. 1: February 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-02-28
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.1.6
Page range: 36-46
Abstract views: 99
PDF downloaded: 3

A new moth lacewing genus (Insecta: Neuroptera: Ithonidae) with proliferated and specialized wing venation from the mid-Cretaceous of northern Myanmar

Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK
Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210018, China
Beijing Xiachong Amber Museum, Beijing 100023, China
Insecta Neuroptera Ithonidae new genus Kachin amber wing character evolution

Abstract

The neuropteran family Ithonidae is a relict group among extant lacewings, with less species diversity and disjunctive global distribution, but represented by a more diverse palaeofauna since the Late Triassic. However, most fossil ithonids are preserved in compression rocks, while those from amber inclusion are particularly rare. Here we report a new genus and species of Ithonidae, Phyllithone dongshengi gen. et sp. nov., from the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber of northern Myanmar, representing the second ithonid genus and species from this deposit. The new genus can be assigned to the extinct Principiala genus-group by the specialized MP and CuA in both fore- and hind wings, which is shared by many groups of Myrmeleontoidea as a possibly convergently evolved trait. The new finding highlights the morphological diversity and evolution in early ithonids.

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