Karatawia sinica Li, Nel et Ren

Li, Yong-Jun, Nel, André, Ren, Dong, Zhang, Bing-Lan & Pang, Hong, 2012, Reassessment of the Jurassic damsel-dragonfly genus Karatawia (Odonata: Campterophlebiidae), Zootaxa 3417, pp. 64-68 : 65

Karatawia sinica Li, Nel et Ren , sp. nov.

( Fig. 1 )

Diagnosis. Wings are of medium size; hindwing pterostigma slightly longer than that of forewing; distal part of area between RP 3/4 and MA with a lower density of cells than K. turanica; distal part of area between IR2 and RP 3/4 with three rows of cells; area between RP 2 and IR2 relatively more expanded than in K. turanica; IR1 basally zigzagged; postdiscoidal area with a progressive decreasing width.

Holotype. Specimen CNU-ODO-NN2011017.

Etymology. Named after the Latin name for China.

Type locality and horizon. Jiulongshan Formation, Middle Jurassic; near Daohugou Village, Wuhua Township, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, China.

Description. Specimen (positive imprint only) not well preserved: forewing and hindwing partly overlapped in both pairs; anal area of hindwing missing; body structure not very distinct. Forewing hyaline, with its base, anal area, cubito-anal area and wing apex missing; all the preserved characters of the forewing nearly identical to those of the hindwing, except the pterostigma (see below). Hindwing (right and left wings combined) hyaline, preserved wing about 40 mm long, 9.7 mm wide at nodus level; distance between arculus and nodus 12.5 mm; median space free of crossvein; submedian space narrow and crossed by at least one vein; CuP-crossing not visible; discoidal cell basally closed, free of crossvein; subdiscoidal space most probably free, distally closed, with AA ending on CuA; RP and MA separated at arculus; MA divided into MAa and a short MAb; MAb about 1 mm long, well aligned with distal free part of CuA; basal part of area between MP and CuA with only one row of broad, transverse cells; distal part of CuAa not well preserved, but certainly CuAa short, with three rows of cells between it and posterior wing margin; MP rather straight, reaching posterior wing margin at a level slightly basal of pterostigma; MAa straight, parallel with MP, zigzagged and gradually become weakened in its distal half; basal part of postdiscoidal area 1.2 mm wide, with only one row of transverse cells; postdiscoidal area not distinctly narrowed but with two rows of cells distally; Ax0 invisible; two strong primary antenodal crossveins Ax1 and Ax2, Ax2 not strongly oblique, Ax1 perpendicular to ScP; arculus angled, lying in a position nearly midway between Ax1and Ax2; no secondary antenodal crossvein between C and ScP but several antenodal crossveins of second row between ScP and RA; base of RP 3/4 3.8 mm distal of arculus, much closer to arculus than to nodus; base of IR2 very close to that of RP 3/4; subnodus oblique; ten preserved postnodal crossveins between C and RA, not aligned with postsubnodal crossveins between RA and RP; pterostigmal brace vein absent but several crossveins below the pterostigma; pterostigma elongate and broad, 4.4 mm long (3.1 mm long in forewing) and 0.9 mm wide; posterior wing margin and RA strongly thickened along pterostigma; RP 2 well aligned with subnodus; at least five bridge crossveins; RP 2 nearly straight, parallel to the nearly straight IR2 and area in-between just slightly expanded near posterior wing margin; IR1 basally zigzagged and more or less parallel to RP 1, with a curvature below pterostigma; area between IR1 and RP 1 with six rows of cells distally; IR1 and RP 2 parallel, with five rows of cells in distal part of area inbetween; area between RP 3/4 and MA widened distally; RP 3/4 and IR2 parallel, with area in-between not expanded distally, with one row of cells basally and two or three rows of cells distally; area between IR2 and RP 2 with one row of cells basally, then slightly expanded after level of pterostigma, with four rows of cells along posterior wing margin. Total body length (from head to apex of abdomen, including anal appendages) 58.6 mm; head length unknown, 5.7 mm wide; thorax 8.3 mm wide with trace of coloration; legs not preserved; abdomen 45.2 mm long, 5.0 mm wide at its mid part but gradually narrowed; anal appendages very short.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Karatawia sinica sp. nov., holotype specimen, A. Photograph of general habitus; B. Drawing of left wings; C. Drawing of right wings. Scale bars represents 10 mm.