Furochrysa, Makarkin & Perkovsky, 2024

Makarkin, Vladimir N. & Perkovsky, Evgeny E., 2024, Nothochrysinae (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) from the early Eocene Fur Formation, Denmark, with description of a new genus, Zootaxa 5433 (4), pp. 529-545 : 534

Genus Furochrysa gen. nov.

Etymology. From the Fur Formation, referring to the horizon in which the type species is found, and – chrysa, a traditional ending for chrysopid names. Gender feminine.

Type and only species: Furochrysa alisae gen et sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Both fore- and hind wings: inner series of gradate crossveins arranged in smooth line. Forewing: im pentagonal; 2m-cu located nearly in middle of im; CuP with one branch; A1, A2 not forked. Hind wing: 1im, 1icu very long.

Remarks. The new genus is most similar to the Danish Danochrysa Willmann, 1993 , the Danish-North American Cimbrochrysa Schlüter, 1982 , and Asiachrysa Makarkin, 2014 from the Russian Far East by the nearly identical shape of the intramedian cell and the location of 2m-cu nearly in the middle of the intramedian cell. The new genus is easily distinguished from Danochrysa by its simple A1 and A2 (both forked in Danochrysa ), and the once forked CuP (two to three times in Danochrysa ). The inner gradate series of crossveins is arranged in a strongly broken line in all species of Cimbrochrysa and all other Nothochrysinae known from the Fur Formation, while it is arranged in a smooth line in the new genus. By this character state, Furochrysa gen. nov. is similar to Asiachrysa , but all veins in the latter genus are widely spaced and RP1 originates far distad 1ra-rp, while it originates proximad 1ra-rp in the new genus.

The very long crossvein between CuA and CuP (1icu) in the hind wing distinguishes Furochrysa gen. nov. from all other Nothochrysinae . Unfortunately, the hind wing venation is unknown in other members of the subfamily from the Fur Formation, but this crossvein is known to be short in North American species of Cimbrochrysa (see Makarkin et al. 2022: Figs 11C, 13C, D).

The number of the RP branches (18) in the forewing of Furochrysa gen. nov. is the greatest among Nothochrysinae from the Fur Formation.

An additional long crossvein (labelled ma-rp 1 in Fig. 5A ) between MA and RP1 is here considered to be an aberration (anomaly).

Figures

FIGURE 5. The venation of Furochrysa alisae gen. et sp. nov., holotype MGUH 34321. A, forewing; B, hind wing. Scale bar = 2 mm (both to same scale).