Elcanonympha diana Heads & Thomas, 2018

Heads, Sam W., Thomas, M. Jared & Wang, Yinan, 2018, A new genus and species of Elcanidae (Insecta: Orthoptera) from Cretaceous Burmese amber, Zootaxa 4527 (4), pp. 575-580 : 576

Elcanonympha diana Heads & Thomas , sp. nov.

Figs 1–3

Holotype. INHSP 10324 : A male nymph in mid-Cretaceous amber from Burma ( Myanmar); housed in the Center for Paleontology, Illinois Natural History Survey , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , USA.

Etymology. The specific epithet honors Diana Yates in gratitude for her assistance promoting fossil insect research at the University of Illinois.

Diagnosis. As for the genus.

Description. Body 3.96 mm long. Head dorsoventrally elongate, 1.40 mm long; frons relatively flat; eyes 0.93 mm in diameter, somewhat ovoid, situated high on head capsule; interocular distance approx. equal to diameter of eyes; antennae not preserved; maxillary palpi long and thin. Pronotum very large, saddle-like, 2.36 mm long, covering most of abdomen; cut by a single, shallow transverse sulcus. Abdomen mostly obscured by pronotum; five segments visible; cerci 1.47 mm long, covered in fine setae, broad at base, gradually tapering for first 3/4 of length before thinning to a fine, hair-like tip; terminalia otherwise obscured. Procoxa obscured by bubbles; protrochanter prominent, cylindrical; profemur 1.41 mm long, of relatively uniform thickness along its length with a covering of fine setae, two prominent dorsal apical spines and two small, articulated apical spurs; protibia 1.30 mm long, narrower than profemur, with dense covering of stout, denticle-like setae; probasitarsus approx. 0.65 mm long; entire protarsus approx. 1.23 mm long. Mesocoxa only partially visible, cylindrical, slightly wider than mesotrochanter; mesotrocanter cylindrical, approx. twice as long as mesocoxa; mesofemur 1.70 mm long, of relatively uniform thickness along its length with a covering of fine setae and apical spination and small spurs as in profemur; mesotibia 1.67 mm long, quadrate in cross-section with dense covering of short setae; Mesobasitarsus 0.38 mm long; entire mesotarsus 0.89 mm long. Metafemur 3.82 mm long, setose; apex with prominent genicular lobes; apex of genicula with prominent lateral notch, and dorsal row of denticles; metatibia 2.85 mm long, subquadrate in crosssection, with 11 inner and 16 outer dorsal spines/denticles; subapical metatibial spurs approx. 0.61 mm long and ensiform, with pointed, upturned apices; apical metatibial spurs long and narrow with pointed apices; metabasitarsus 0.85 mm long, quadrate in cross-section, with rows of needle-like spines on inner and outer dorsal margins; ventral margin with row of apically directed scale-like spines within distal third of metabasitarsus; second tarsomere small and indistinct; third tarsomere approximately equal in length to metabasitarsus, slightly curved distally; metatarsal claws long and curved.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Elcanonympha diana gen. et sp. nov., holotype in left lateral view.

FIGURE 2. Elcanonympha diana gen. et sp. nov., holotype in right lateral view.

FIGURE 3. Elcanonympha diana gen. et sp. nov., inner view of left metatibia and metatarsus showing arrangement of subapical and apical metatibial spurs and spination of metabasitars.