Baskintoconops Pielowska-Ceranowska, 2023

Pielowska-Ceranowska, Agata, Azar, Dany & Szwedo, Jacek, 2023, A new genus and species of Leptoconopinae (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from Lower Cretaceous Baskinta amber outcrop in Lebanon, European Journal of Taxonomy 908, pp. 27-38 : 29

Genus Baskintoconops Pielowska-Ceranowska gen. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9A54FECA-A83B-4DDC-BCDF-3E24652E445A

Type species

Baskintoconops maaloufi Pielowska-Ceranowska gen. et sp. nov.; by present designation and monotypy.

Diagnosis

Costa significantly extended beyond the tip of R 2+3 vein (as in Jordanoconops and Fossileptoconops ), and prolonged to 0.8 of wing length (reaching about 0.75 of wing length in Jordanoconops and Fossileptoconops ). Vein R 2+3 ends at about the middle of the wing, while maintaining a relatively long first radial cell as a result of reduction of the R 2 vein (similarly to Jordanoconops and Fossileptoconops ); vein M forked in basal half of wing length, r-m absent (r-m present in Jordanoconops ; uncertain in Fossileptoconops ), basal section of M about twice as long as M 1 section from fork to fusion with R 2+3, basal section of R 2+3 thickened (stem M forked in distal half of wing length in Jordanoconops and Fossileptoconops ).

Etymology

The new genus is named after its collecting location, the Lebanese village Baskinta.

Remarks

The identification features in the venation of the wing are a fusion of those previously observed in representative of Lower Cretaceous Ceratopogonidae genera. The venation combines the features of, and is most congrugous to, that of Jordanoconops , and Fossileptoconops . The general scheme of wing venation of the new genus is similar to that of Jordanoconops due to the presence of an elongated single radial cell, absence of the R 2 vein, and basal section of R 2+3 perpendicular to R 1. In Baskintoconops gen. nov. and in Fossileptoconops vein R 2+3 ends at the costal margin at about half of wing length, while in Jordanoconops R 2+3 vein ends distinctly apicad of half of wing length. However, r-m vein is clearly present in Jordanoconops , and absent in Baskintoconops ; this feature is not clear in Fossileptoconops , it could be absent ( Szadziewski 1996; Borkent 2019).