Wesmaelius makarkini Yang, Pang & Ren

Yang, Qiang, Shi, Chaofan, Li, Xiangchuan, Pang, Hong & Ren, Dong, 2018, The first fossil brown lacewing from the Miocene of the Tibetan Plateau (Neuroptera, Hemerobiidae), ZooKeys 726, pp. 145-154 : 149-150

Wesmaelius makarkini Yang, Pang & Ren sp. n. Fig. 1

Holotype.

CNU-NEU-QZ2017001 (holotype), a complete forewing (Fig. 1).

Diagnosis.

Forewing with transparent spots on veins, and dark spots on the graduate crossveins, darker pigmentation along wing margin, subcostal veinlets, and longitudinal veins with dark intervals or dots. MA and MP pectinately forked, 2m-cu located at the fork of MA and M, the crossveins of the third gradate series more oblique.

Description.

Holotype CNU-NEU-QZ2017001. Only forewing preserved.

Forewing oval, 8.31 mm long, 3.17 mm wide. Trichosors prominent, along the entire wing margin. Setae distinct, scarce on the veins and dense on the margin. Costal space relatively broad, dilated basally. Humeral veinlet recurrent, with two pectinate branches. Presumable ScA present. Majority of subcostal veinlets branched once, several basal veinlets branched twice, with no crossveins between them. Subcostal space moderately broad, with two prestigmal sc-r crossveins: basal 1sc-r and distal 3sc-r. Posterior trace of RA forked apically, with two distal branches. One RA branch forked once, the other twice. RP with three branches (ORBs) originated from RA; ORB1with two pectinate branches between 3r-m and 4r-m, all with distal forks; ORB2 dichotomously forked between the third and fourth gradate series of crossveins, each branch dichotomously forked; ORB3 forked between the second and third gradate series, with two dichotomously forked branches. M appear to be fused basally with R. M forked at 2m-cu; MA, MP configuration similar, parallel for a long distance, then each with two pectinate branches between the third and fourth gradate series. The second branch of MP dichotomously forked. Forewing with three m-cu crossveins. Crossvein 2r-m present and positioned distally to crossvein 2m-cu; 2m-cu at the fork of MA and MP. Cu divided into CuA and CuP proximal of the first gradate series, close to wing base; CuA with four pectinate branches distal to 2cua-cup, all branches with marginal forks; CuP simple, only with marginal fork. AA1 with three pectinate branches, all with marginal forks. AA2 with two simple branches, forked proximal to aa1-aa2. AA3 simple. Three flexion fold (line) distinct between RP and MA, MP and CuA, CuP and AA1. The third gradate series with nine crossveins and the fourth gradate with seven crossveins. Forewing with transparent spots on veins, and dark spots at the graduate crossveins; margined with darker pigmentation, and no other distinct maculation; wing margin, subcostal veinlets and longitudinal veins with dark intervals or dots.

Etymology.

The specific epithet is in honor of the entomologist Dr. Vladimir Nikolaevich Makarkin to acknowledge his great help to the first author in his study of Neuropteran.

Type locality and horizon.

Caergen Village, Zeku County, Qinghai Province, China; Garang Formation; The early Miocene.

Remarks.

The species can be easily attributed to the genus Wesmaelius due to the following characters: two prestigmal sc-r crossveins, three RP branches (ORBs), crossvein 2r-m present and positioned distally to crossvein 2m-cu; intersection of crossvein 2m-cu with M not more than the crossvein’s length distal to fork MA/MP (sometimes anterior to this fork), resulting in cell c2m-cu broad distally; forewing with three m-cu crossveins (Oswald, 1993).

In the genus, Wesmaelius makarkini sp. n. is most similar to the extant species of W. nervosus (Fabricius, 1793), W. subnebulosus (Stephens, 1836) and W. reisseri U. Aspöck & H. Aspöck, 1982. The new species with two ORB3 branches, 2m-cu located at the division of MA and MP; while W. nervosus with three ORB3 branches, 2m-cu distal to the division of MA and MP; and W. makarkini with a distinct large darker pigmentation at the apex of forewing. The new species differs from W. subnebulosus and W. reisseri in the pectinately forked MA and RP1, 2m-cua located at the division of MA and MP, instead of dichotomously forked MA and RP1, and 2m-cu distal to the division of MA and MP in W. subnebulosus and W. reisseri . Moreover, the new species has seven crossveins in the fourth series, while W. reisseri has four crossveins.