Palerasnitsynus ohlhoffi, Wichard, Wilfried, Ross, Emma & Ross, Andrew J., 2011

Wichard, Wilfried, Ross, Emma & Ross, Andrew J., 2011, Palerasnitsynus gen. n. (Trichoptera, Psychomyiidae) from Burmese amber, ZooKeys 130, pp. 323-330 : 325

Palerasnitsynus ohlhoffi sp. n. Figs 1-3

Holotype.

Male embedded in Burmese amber, late Albian, Myanmar, deposited in the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart (ex coll. Rainer Ohlhoff, Saarbrücken). The holotype is well preserved in slightly cloudy amber. The forewings cover the hindwings in dorsal view; the hindwing venation is difficult to analyze due to the overlapping hind wings and forewings. The male genitalia are visible in ventral view. The antennae and legs are completely preserved but the left mid leg is broken.

Etymology.

The species is named after Rainer Ohlhoff, who kindly made the fossil available for this study.

Diagnosis.

The only species of the genus Palerasnitsynus which differs from all other known psychomyiid genera by the absence of apical fork III in the forewings. Length of male 1.9mm (intraspecific variation not known).

Description.

Length of male (tip of head to tip of abdomen) 1.9 mm; forewing length 1.9 mm; hind wing length 1.7 mm.

Head: Eyes large and bulbous; ocelli absent; antennae filiform, almost as long as forewings, with cylindrical scapes, pedicel and flagellomeres. Maxillary palps 5-segmented, segment 1 short, segment 2 longer than segments 1 and 3, as long as segment 4, segment 5 flexible, annulated, twice as long as segment 4. Labial palps 3-segmented with long terminal segments, nearly as long as segments 1 + 2.

Thorax: Mesoscutum with pair of setal warts. Tibial spurs 2/4/4. Forewings: Subcosta (Sc) simple, Radius: R1 simple, R2+3 unforked, R4+5 forked at cross-vein r; discoidal cell short. Media: M1+2 simple, M3+4 forked. Crossvein m indistinct, median cell (Mc) apparently open. Cubitus: Cu1 forked; Cu2 unforked. Crossvein m-cu apparently present, defining thyridial cell (Tc). Forewings apically rounded; venation with apical forks II, IV and V. Light-coloured hindwing venation indistinct. Rs apparently forked into R2+3 and R4+5; forks I and II apparently absent. Crossvein r apparently absent. M branched, M1+2 unforked, M3+4 indistinct.

Genitalia: In ventral view, sternite IX with sinusoidal apical margin, bearing pair of two-segmented gonopods; coxopodite short, broad at basis; harpago long. Harpagones regularly curving mesad, widening at apex. Coxopodites with row of strong hairs along median margins; each coxopodite with brush of short, dark setae at apex. In dorsal view two small black spines about half as long as gonopods, visible through hyaline wings. External structures of male genitalia indistinct in lateral and dorsal view.