Panorpodes gedanensis, Krzemiński & Soszyńska-Maj, 2015

Soszynska-Maj, A & Krzeminski, W, 2015, New representative of the family Panorpodidae (Insecta, Mecoptera) from Eocene Baltic Amber with a key to fossil species of genus Panorpodes, Palaeontologia Electronica (London, England) 20 (2), pp. 1-7 : 2-3

Panorpodes gedanensis sp. n.

Figure 1 , 2

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Holotype. Sex unknown, No. 1193-2, amber embedded in polyester resin ( Hoffeins, 2001). Inclusion with well-preserved head, thorax and complete wings, the ventral side not visible due to white milky coating; wings folded, therefore only forewing venation is clearly visible. The inclusion will be deposited as a part of the amber collection of the Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut ( SDEI), Müncheberg , Germany.

Etymology. The specific name refers to Gdańsk, Polish city famous for its amber tradition.

Diagnosis. Differs from all other fossil members of the genus in that the wings are transparent with five dark, oval spots and dark coloured apical parts, compared to narrow, unregular broken bands of P. weitschati , dark wings with narrow transparent bands of P. hageni and completely transparent wings of P. brevicauda from Baltic amber.

Description. Eyes large and round, rostrum short, only partly visible; antennae filiform, scapus and pedicel not visible, flagellum composed of 43 segments, mostly equal in length, gradually become narrower, last flagellomere thinner, half the length of previous one. Wings narrow; fore wing: 14.2 mm long, 4.1 mm wide; membrane transparent, with five clearly visible dark spots; one large spot in basal part of wing, four regularly distributed spots in central part, apical margin of wing with broad band extending from R 2 to M 3; Sc 1 joining costa at the level of Rs fork, Sc 2 reaches pterostigma at fork of R 2+3; one crossvein c-sc in coastal area across fork of Rb; R 1 characteristically sharply curved just above fork of R 2+3, one oblique cross vein between Sc and R 1 just across Rs fork; R 2+3 about 0.2 longer than Rs and three times longer than R 2, Rs twice as long as R 2 and twice length of R 4+5; R 3 simple; R 4 almost six times longer than R 4+5; M 1 slightly longer than M 1+2 (about 0.125 longer); M 4 seven times longer than M 3+4; m-cu joins M 4 with vein CuA; A 1 joining posterior margin of wing across the Rs fork; A 2 reaching posterior edge in the middle of Rs; one crossvein between A 1 and A 2;

Remarks. The specimen was recognised as Panorpodidae from the following characters: rostrum short, wide, twice height of eye, wings with Sc two branched, one cross vein between humerus and basal branch of Sc, vein R1 characteristically sharply curved, Rs 5-6 branched, Ms four branched, anal veins simple.

See Table 1 and Figure 3 for key to fossil species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Photograph of Panorpodes gedanensis sp. n. – holotype no. 1193-2 (photo H.W. Hoffeins).

FIGURE 2. Drawing of Panorpodes gedanensis sp. n. fore wing of holotype no. 1193-2.

FIGURE 3.1-4. Forewings of fossil representatives of genus Panorpodes: 3.1) Panorpodes brevicauda, 3.2) P. hageni, 3.3) P. gedanensis, 3.4) P. weitschati, modified after Soszyńska-Maj and Krzemiński (2013).