Composibittacus, Liu, Sulin, Shih, Chungkun, Bashkuev, Alexei & Ren, Dong, 2016

Liu, Sulin, Shih, Chungkun, Bashkuev, Alexei & Ren, Dong, 2016, New Jurassic Hangingflies (Insecta: Mecoptera: Bittacidae) from Inner Mongolia, China, Zootaxa 4067 (1), pp. 65-78 : 66-67

Genus Composibittacus gen. nov.

Type species. Composibittacus bipunctatus gen. et sp. nov.

Included species. Type species and Composibittacus reticulatus sp. nov.

Etymology. The generic name is derived from the Latin word composit - (composite) and Bittacus (the type genus of Bittacidae ) to highlight that the venational characters are a combination of those of other bittacid genera. Gender is masculine.

Diagnosis. The new genus is differentiated from other genera of Bittacidae by a combination of the following characters. 1) Sc long, reaching the costal margin distal of the bifurcation of R4+5; 2) one crossvein between C and Sc; 3) pterostigmal area elongated; 4) five pterostigmal crossveins between R1 and R2 and R1 and R2+3; 5) R1 simple; 6) the ‘bittacid cross’ not aligned or nearly in alignment; 7) Rs bifurcating proximal to the M forking; 8) many cells between Rs and M; 9) 1A long, reaching the posterior margin proximal of the bifurcation of Rs; 10) 2A present; 11) 3A absent.

Remarks. The new genus is assigned to Bittacidae based on a combination of the following characters: wing base slender and narrow; 1A and 2A present but without any bifurcations (vs. cimbrophlebiids with 2A very long and multi-branched); pterostigma well developed; Cu1 coalesced with M basally for a short distance; legs long and slender with dense setae and two long, sharp tibial spurs.

Comparisons. The forewing venation of Composibittacus gen. nov. is very similar to that of the extinct genera Orthobittacus Willmann, 1989, Sibirobittacus Sukatsheva, 1990, Liaobittacus Ren, 1993, Preanabittacus Novokschonov, 1993, Megabittacus, Ren 1997, Mongolbittacus Petrulevièius, Huang & Ren, 2007 , Formosibittacus Li, Ren & Shih, 2008 and Decoribittacus Li & Ren, 2009. To clearly differentiate Composibittacus gen. nov. from these similar genera, we summarize the comparisons by using the number of the characters listed numerically in the Diagnosis above. Composibittacus gen. nov. is differentiated from Orthobittacus by characters 3, 4, 5, and from Sibirobittacus by characters 1, 3, 4, 5, 6. The new genus is similar to Liaobittacus, except for characters 2, 4. Composibittacus gen. nov. is distinguished from Preanabittacus by characters 2, 3, 4, 5; from Megabittacus by 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and from Mongolbittacus by 1, 2, 3, 4, 8. Composibittacus gen. nov. is separated from Formosibittacus by characters 2, 3, 4, 6, and from Decoribittacus by 2, 4, 11.

The new genus is distinguished from the extant genera of Hylobittacus Carpenter 1954 , Bittacus Latreille 1805 , and Terrobittacus Tan 2009 by characters 1, 2, 3, 4, 7. To date, character 4 (five pterostigmal crossveins between R1 and R2 and R1 and R2+3) is uniquely present in the new genus. All other described extinct and extant genera in the world have one or two pterostigmal crossveins.