Nothochrysinae Navás, 1910

Makarkin, Vladimir, Wedmann, Sonja & Weiterschan, Thomas, 2018, The first green lacewings from the late Eocene Baltic amber, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 63 (3), pp. 527-537 : 531-532

Subfamily Nothochrysinae Navás, 1910 Nothochrysa ? sp.

Figs. 5 , 6 .

Material.—SMF-Be-2464; two fragmentarily preserved forewings from late Eocene of Baltic amber (precise collecting locality unknown).

Description.—Forewing ca. 10.5 mm long as preserved (ca. 15–16 mm estimated). Distal part of costal space narrow. ScP long. Distal subcostal veinlets closely spaced, several forked. Subcostal space distally rather broad, with several distal crossveins (five detected). RA long, almost reaching wing apex; with four distal veinlets. RA space relatively narrow, with 16 preserved crossveins. RP with 19 preserved branches; of these, five entering into Psm. Psm, Psc probably well developed, slightly zigzagged. Space between Psm, Psc very broad distally. Psm continues into inner gradate series, which consists of 12 crossveins (left wing). Psc continues into outer gradate series, which consists of 15 crossveins (left wing).

Remarks.— The new species is assigned to Nothochrysinae due to the presence of two features characteristic of the subfamily: Psm continues into the inner gradate series of crossveins, and ScP and RA are long. In Chrysopinae, Psm continues distad the inner gradate series, and ScP and RA are much shorter. It is tentatively assigned to the genus Nothochrysa for the following reasons: the wings are rather large possessing numerous RP branches (about

ScP

20); the well-developed Psm and Psc; two series of gradate crossveins; and the long ScP and RA. Of the known nothochrysine genera, this set of character states is only present in Nothochrysa .

The genus Nothochrysa , with five extant species, is distributed in Europe, North Africa, Turkey, China, and North America ( Adams 1967; Aspöck et al. 2001; Yang et al. 2005; Kovanci and Canbulat 2007). Two fossil species are known: Nothochrysa stampieni Nel and Séméria, 1986 from the Oligocene (late Rupelian/basal Chattian) of Aixen-Provence ( France), and N. praeclara Statz, 1936 from the early Miocene (Aquitanian) or latest Oligocene (Chattian) of Rott ( Germany). The forewing venation of these fossil species is rather similar to that of the Baltic amber species.

Figures

Fig. 5. Green lacewing Nothochrysa? sp. from the late Eocene Baltic amber. SMF-Be-2464, general view (A), left forewing (B), costal space of right forewing (C), fragment of right forewing (D).

Fig. 6. Green lacewing Nothochrysa? sp. from the late Eocene Baltic amber. Wing venation of the SMF-Be-2464, left (A, converted to right dorsal view) and right (B) forewing. Abbreviations: Psc, pseudocubitus; Psm, pseudomedia; RA, anterior radius; RP, posterior radius; ScP, posterior subcosta.