Angustiphlebia mirabilis, Li & Nel & Ren & Pang, 2013

Li, YongJun, Nel, André, Ren, Dong & Pang, Hong, 2013, A new damsel-dragonfly from the Mesozoic of China with a hook-like male anal angle (Odonata: Isophlebioptera: Campterophlebiidae), Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 47 (29 - 30), pp. 1953-1958 : 1954-1956

Angustiphlebia mirabilis sp. nov.

( Figure 1 )

Diagnosis

Same as genus.

Holotype

Specimen CNU-ODO-NN2011016, part and counterpart.

Etymology

Named after the Latin word mirabilis , meaning “very strange”.

Type locality and horizon

Middle Jurassic, Jiulongshan Formation, near Daohugou Village, Wuhua Township, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, China (Ren, Labandeira and Shi 2010; Ren, Shih and Labandeira 2010).

Description

A poorly preserved specimen, only basal one-third of forewing preserved, distal one-third of hind wing missing ( Figure 1A ); wings hyaline. Forewing ( Figure 1B,C ) preserved length about 32 mm; primary antenodal crossveins Ax1 and Ax2 strong, distance between them 9.5 mm; no secondary antenodal crossvein between C and ScP; two rows of cells and a zigzagged longitudinal secondary vein more or less parallel to posterior wing margin in anal area; AA distally strongly bent towards posterior wing margin and parallel with CuA, correlated with a long and narrow subdiscoidal area about 5.3 mm long and 0.8 mm wide; median space free of crossvein, submedian space only crossed by a strong CuP-crossing; discoidal space basally opened; arculus curved; RP and MA strongly approximate basally; postdiscoidal area with only one row of cells, about 1.9 mm wide in basal part; area between MP and CuA very broad, about 5.7 mm wide, with one large cell basally and three to four rows of cells distally; MA basally curved and approximating RP, MA more or less parallel with straight MP in their preserved parts; CuAa short, parallel with posterior wing margin with one row of cells between. Hind wing ( Figure 1D,E ) slender, preserved wing length 65.1 mm (estimated wing length about 90 mm, according to a comparison with the hind wings in the Campterophlebiidae ), distance from nodus to wing apex about 1.3 times as long as distance from base to nodus, wing 15.5 mm wide at nodus level (may be widest part); Ax1 and Ax2 strong and perpendicular to ScP, distance between them 9.5 mm, between arculus and nodus 28.3 mm, Ax1 lies slightly basal of arculus; no secondary antenodal crossvein between C and ScP; anal area broad and distally rounded, area between AA2 and AP with numerous irregular cells, very large cells along AA2; AA1 parallel with CuA distally and AA2 bent toward wing base; median area free; margin of hind wing making a strong “hook” in anal area (male specimen); submedian area free; a strong and straight CuP-crossing separating submedian and subdiscoidal areas; transversely elongated rectangular subdiscoidal area very narrow, 6.8 mm long and 1.0 mm wide, free of crossveins; subdiscoidal cell distally closed; discoidal cell basally closed, 3.3 mm long and 1.2 mm wide, free of cross-vein, length of proximal side 1.0 mm, of distal side 2.8 mm; arculus strongly curved; CuA separating from MP 12.7 mm from wing base and directed towards posterior wing margin for 5.8 mm; CuAa short, extending about 12 mm then vanishing into a crossvein network, basally more or less parallel to posterior wing margin with two rows of cells in-between, correlated with a very narrow area between CuAa and posterior wing margin; preserved posterior wing margin rather straight; area between CuA and MP with three or four rows of large cells, and with basal part about 6 mm wide; numerous secondary intercalary veins originating from MP; MA and MP nearly straight, area between them gradually constricted, with only one row of cells and all crossveins between them slightly curved, basal part of postdiscoidal area 2.5 mm wide; RP3 / 4 slightly curved, with one row of cells between it and IR2, all crossveins between them being slightly curved; area between RP3 / 4 and IR2 distally constricted; RP2 and IR2 nearly parallel, with only one row of cells between; IR2 originating from RP1 / 2; an intercalary vein originating from IR1; oblique vein “O” preserved, three cells distal of subnodus; RP2 not aligned with nodus but lying in a slightly basal position; IR1 long and slightly zigzagged in its basal part, a well-developed secondary intercalary vein between it and RP1; an intercalary vein originating from IR1.

Figures

Figure 1. Angustiphlebia mirabilis gen. nov. et sp. nov. (A) Photograph of holotype specimen CNU-ODO-NN2011016, part only; (B) photograph of forewing; (C) line drawing of forewing, part and counterpart combined; (D) photograph of hind wing; (E) drawing of hind wing. Scale bars represent 10 mm.