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Published: 2022-05-05
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A revision of Chrysopidae (Neuroptera) from the late Eocene Florissant Formation, Colorado, with description of new species

Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, 960022, Russia
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3AN, United Kingdom
Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada . Museum of Comparative Zoology, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States of America 5Royal British Columbia Museum, 675 Belleville Street, Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 9W2, Canada
Neuroptera Chrysopidae Nothochrysinae Florissant Formation late Eocene

Abstract

The green lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) of the late Eocene Florissant Formation (Colorado, USA) are revised. Thirteen species in six genera of Nothochrysinae are recognized, including four new species: Archaeochrysa cockerelli sp. nov., Cimbrochrysa americana sp. nov., C. major sp. nov., and Lithochrysa meyeri sp. nov. The validity of the genus Dyspetochrysa Adams, 1967 is tenuous; it might be a synonym of Archaeochrysa Adams, 1967. Lithochrysa Carpenter, 1935 and L. ferruginea (Cockerell, 1909) are considered a valid genus and species. A lectotype and paralectotype of Tribochrysa firmata Scudder, 1890 are designated. The genus Cimbrochrysa Schlüter, 1982 is recorded from North America for the first time. Eocene chrysopid assemblages are briefly analyzed. The late Eocene Florissant assemblage is less diverse than those of early Eocene North America, and greatly differs from late Eocene European assemblages.

 

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