Sinosmylites Hong, 1983

Makarkin, Vladimir N., Yang, Qiang & Ren, Dong, 2011, Two new species of Sinosmylites Hong (Neuroptera, Berothidae) from the Middle Jurassic of China, with notes on Mesoberothidae, ZooKeys 130, pp. 199-215 : 201

Genus Sinosmylites Hong, 1983 sit. n.

Sinosmylites Hong, 1983: 94, 198 [ Osmylitidae ]; Ren et al. 1995: 101 [? Osmylidae ]; Ren and Guo 1996: 466 [ ‘osmylid-like’ Neuroptera ]; Makarkin and Archibald 2005: 15, 16, 18, 19 [probably Prohemerobiidae ]; Yang et al. 2010: 177 [ Osmylidae ].

Type species.

Sinosmylites pectinatus Hong, 1983, by original designation.

Diagnosis.

Forewing: costal space strongly narrowed basally; humeral veinlet not recurrent and branched; Sc, R1 fused distally; Sc+R1 with 9-11 veinlets, mostly simple; all subcostal veinlets simple; M forked far distal to origin of Rs; CuA pectinate, with seven branches; few crossveins in radial space arranged mainly in 1-2 ‘inner’ gradate series.

Species included.

Three species from the Middle Jurassic of China (Jiulongshan Formation): Sinosmylites pectinatus (Liaoning Province), Sinosmylites fumosus sp. n. and Sinosmylites rasnitsyni sp. n. (Inner Mongolia).

Comments.

The venation of these two new species is very similar to that of Sinosmylites pectinatus . The latter species is represented by a nearly complete forewing ( Hong 1983). Unfortunately, however, it is quite poorly figured, and its type is now lost. Nevertheless, all main features of Sinosmylites fumosus sp. n. and Sinosmylites rasnitsyni sp. n. forewings agree well with those confirmed of Sinosmylites pectinatus , i.e., similar size (length 5.5 mm in Sinosmylites pectinatus ; about 6.5 mm in Sinosmylites fumosus sp. n.; 6.7 mm in Sinosmylites rasnitsyni sp. n.), coloration (a single, more or less fuscous color), and the venational character states are as provided in the generic diagnosis. The few differences between the type species and the two new species (e.g., the presence of two ‘inner’ gradate series, and the CuP twice forked in Sinosmylites pectinatus ) are at most specific.