Cretapsychops decipiens, Peng, Yuanyuan, Makarkin, Vladimir N., Yang, Qiang & Ren, Dong, 2010

Peng, Yuanyuan, Makarkin, Vladimir N., Yang, Qiang & Ren, Dong, 2010, A new silky lacewing (Neuroptera: Psychopsidae) from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China, Zootaxa 2663, pp. 59-67 : 60-63

Cretapsychops decipiens sp. nov.

( Figs 2–5 )

Etymology. The name of the new species refers to the distinct colour patterns on the forewings, which is derived from the Latin “ decipiens ”, meaning deceptive.

Material. Holotype CNU-NEU-NN2010700, a well-preserved, nearly complete specimen. Paratypes: CNU-NEU-NN2010701, a complete forewing; CNU-NEU-NN2010702, an incomplete forewing; CNU- NEU-NN2010703 P and C (part and counterpart), a nearly complete forewing.

Type locality and horizon. Middle Jurassic, Jiulongshan Formation. Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China.

Diagnosis. Can be easily distinguished from C. corami by longer costal gradate series extended beyond wing mid-point [not extended beyond wing mid-point in C. corami ], longer forewings [about 20 mm in C. decipiens sp. nov., about 15 mm in C. corami ], different colour pattern (cf. Figs. 1 , 2 , 5 ).

Description of the holotype. Body. Only thorax preserved ( Fig. 4 A). Pronotum subrectangular, with several dark spots, and covered with many long hairs on posterior and lateral edges. Mesonotum almost entirely dark, but pale in lateral edges, middorsal suture on prescutum, two lateral sides of scutellum; covered with long hairs in lateral edges. Metanotum poorly preserved.

Forewing 19.5 mm long, 11.5 mm wide, broadly triangular, with rounded apex. Costal space broad throughout; humeral veinlet strongly recurrent, pectinately branched. Subcostal veinlets dense, once or twice forked. Costal gradate series with at least 37 crossveins in proximal portion of wing, parallel to C, distally curved to Sc. Sc, R1, Rs strong, gradually converging towards apex. Rs with 34 branches, not forked before outer gradate series. Crossveins in radial space form four transverse gradate series; R1 and Rs connected by two crossveins belonging to two distal-most gradate series. M forked far distal to origin of Rs. MA clearly concave, straight before outer gradate series, with five pectinate branches: proximal branch with two long branches, others not forked before end-twigging. MP slightly sinuous, with few distal not-pectinate branches. Cu forking near wing base. CuA peculiarly branched distally: both branches of primary fork at equal angle to stem, with posterior pectination of anterior branch and anterior pectination of posterior branch. CuP few branched. Some crossveins preserved in medio-cubital space. 1A long, dichotomously branched. 2A welldeveloped, pectinately branched. Anal space broad, nearly as wide as costal space. Trichosors present ( Fig. 4 B). All veins and wing margins with dense macrotrichia ( Fig. 4 A). Colour pattern consists of row of deep brown maculae along C in costal space, becoming lighter, smaller towards apex; two deep brown mottled regions in anal space; three patches with irregular wavy margins spreading on pale brown ground in radiomedial space ( Fig. 2 ).

Hind wing. Only anterior and apical parts of right hind wing well preserved; venation in proximal and posterior portions not preserved or hardly visible. Preserved length 17 mm (estimated length about 17.5–18.0 mm), width 9 mm. Costal space broad throughout, width over 4 times combined width of adjacent subcostal and R1 spaces. Subcostal veinlets dense, slightly widely spaced in distal portion than in forewing, mostly once or twice forked; costal gradate series parallel to C then gradually curved to Sc, terminating at Sc near wing apex. Sc, R1 gradually converging towards apex, but not fused. Subcostal space narrow; no subcostal crossveins detected. R1 space very narrow for entire length. Rs with 27-28 branches, not forked proximal to outer gradate series. Two transverse gradate series of crossveins in distal portion of radial space including crossveins between R1 and Rs. Trichosors present. All veins and wing margins with dense macrotrichia.

Remarks. We designate three forewings as paratypes ( Fig. 5 ). Their venation is very similar to that of holotype; they also share a common colour patterning. By these reasons, we assigned these specimens to Cretapsychops decipiens sp. nov. Of them, the paratype CNU-NEU-NN2010702 most resembles the holotype both by the venation and the colour pattern. The paratype CNU-NEU-NN2010703 has no distinct colour pattern (probably poorly preserved), but its venation is almost identical to that of the holotype. In this paratype, unlike other specimens assigned to the species, several subcostal crossveins and numerous (>10) crossveins between R1 and RS are preserved. The assignment of the paratype CNU-NEU-NN2010701 to this species is somewhat problematic. In general, its venation is very similar to that of the holotype, but the innermost gradate series is running at more acute angle to Rs than in the holotype, and the wing apex appears to be somewhat more pointed; also, its colour pattern appears to be a negative image of the holotype colour pattern (i.e., pale areas of the holotype forewing appear dark in this paratype, and vice versa). Therefore, this specimen is only tentatively assigned to C. decipiens sp. nov..

Figures

FIGURE 1. Cretapsychops corami Jepson et al., 2009. Photograph of the holotype BMNH Pal. PI II 1555 a. Arrows indicate the crossveins of the gradate series in the radial space. Scale bar = 5 mm.

FIGURE 2. Cretapsychops decipiens sp. nov. Holotype CNU-NEU-NN 2010700. A, photograph; B, drawing (trichosors are omitted).

FIGURE 3. Cretapsychops decipiens sp. nov. The venation of the holotype CNU-NEU-NN 2010700. A, forewing; B, hind wing. Scale bar = 5 mm.

FIGURE 4. Cretapsychops decipiens sp. nov. Holotype. A, photograph of thorax and base of the forewing. Photograph was taken under alcohol. Thorax is covered with long hairs, and veins and wing margins with dense macrotrichia. B, detail of the postero-apical margin of the right forewing showing trichosors (arrows). Scale bar = 1 mm (for A), 0.5 mm (for B).

FIGURE 5. Cretapsychops decipiens sp. nov. Paratypes. A, CNU-NEU-NN 2010701. B, CNU-NEU-NN 2010702. C, CNU-NEU-NN 2010703 P. D, CNU-NEU-NN 2010703 C. Scale bar = 5 mm.