Halteriomantispa grimaldii, Xingyue Liu, Xiumei Lu & Weiwei Zhang, 2016

Xingyue Liu, Xiumei Lu & Weiwei Zhang, 2016, Halteriomantispa grimaldii gen. et sp. nov.: A new genus and species of the family Dipteromantispidae (Insecta: Neuroptera) from the mid-Cretaceous amber of Myanmar, Zoological Systematics 41 (2), pp. 165-172 : 167-169

Halteriomantispa grimaldii sp. nov.

( Figs 1–5 , 9–10 )

Diagnosis. As for the genus.

Description. Female. Measurements (mm) and ratios. Total body length 7.4. Head length 0.6. Pronotal length, measured along lateral margin 1.0. Mesothorax length 1.8. Metathorax length 0.15. Procoxa length 1.6; protrochanter length 0.1; profemoral length 2.4, width 0.3; fore femoral ratio (length: width) = 8; protibial length 1.1, width 0.1; profemoral length: protibial length = 2.2; protarsus length 0.7. Mesocoxa length 0.3; mesotrochanter length 0.1; mesofemoral length 0.6; mesotibial length 0.6; mesotarsus length 0.4. Metacoxa length 0.3; metatrochanter length 0.1; metafemoral length 1.8; metatibial length 1.8; metatarsus length 1.3. Forewing length 5.2, width 2.3 at broadest portion. Hind wing (haltere-like structure) length 1.3; head of haltere-like structure width 0.4. Abdomen length 3.8.

Head orthognathous, suboval; vertex slightly domed; postocular region feebly expanded. Compound eyes large and globular. Antennae long, bearing dense short setae; scape short, length much shorter width, distinctly larger than flagellomeres; pedicel nearly conical, much larger than flagellomeres; flagellum slightly flattened, with about 62 flagellomeres, each flagellomere nearly as long as wide except for terminal flagellomere slightly prolonged and tapering distad. Mouthparts discernible in only lateral view, with short labrum, mandible, 4-segmented maxillary palp, and 3-segmented labial palp.

Prothorax short, slightly longer than head; pronotum moderately setose, rounded anteriorly, not extended ventrally, with lateral margin nearly straight. Anterior lateral cervical sclerite (alc) large, pear-shaped, with broad anterior part, and short, narrow posterior part. Posterior lateral cervical sclerite (plc) and episternum (es) about double length of alc, with an oblique suture line dividing these two parts. Mesothorax rather large, moderately hairy dorsad, with subtriangular prescutum, broad scutum, and small prominent scutellum; episternum and epimeron broad, epimeron anterodorsally with a long and slender lateral wing process, and posterodorsally with a setose region bearing a few long hairs. Metathorax strongly reduced.

Forelegs raptorial; procoxa elongate, stout, covered with dense hairs; protrochanter rather small; profemur broad, rather narrowly elliptical, covered with dense hairs, ventral margin lacking spines or denticles, but with dense, vertical setae; protibia much narrower than profemur, densely hairy, with spinous apex, rather thin ridge present along ventral margin; protarsus 5-segmented, tarsomere 1 much longer than remaining tarsomeres, tarsomere 2–4 subequal in length (each shorter than tarsomere 5); a pair of short pretarsal claws present; arolium present. Middle legs short, densely hairy, feature of mesotarsus similar to protarsus, a few spinous setae present on ventral surface of mesotarsus. Hind legs much longer than middle legs, densely hairy; two tibial spurs present; feature of metatarsus similar to protarsus, a few spinous setae present on ventral surface of metatarsus.

Forewing subtriangular in shape, with a small dark dot on subdistal portion of subcostal space and an ovoid, much larger, dark marking medially. Pterostigma, nygma, and trichosores absent. Wing margins and all veins setose. Costal space about 3/4× wing length, slightly dilated at subproximal portion, and strongly narrowed distad. Sixteen simple costal crossveins present. ScA present as a short, straight veinlet. ScP long, entering costal margin apparently distad wing midpoint. Subcostal space narrow proximally, broadened towards termination of ScP; one scp-ra crossvein present subdistally. RA entering margin before wing apex, with seven veinlets, each of which bears a small marginal fork. Single short ra-rp crossvein present. RP +MA separating from RA near wing base. RP separating from RP +MA approximately at midpoint of wing, with five simples, closely spaced branches. Single crossvein respectively present between posterior two branches of RP, and between RP and MA. MA with two simple branches. Two crossveins present between MA and MP. MP proximally strongly curved and fused with R, with three simple branches. One crossvein present between branches of MP, and allied with preceding crossveins into a gradate series. 1m-cu crossvein present, nearly upright, slightly proximad forking of Cu. A distal mp-cua crossvein present. Cu deeply forked into long and simple CuA and CuP. A long and oblique cua-cup crossvein present. A1 with free stem, and forked nearly at its midpoint into two simple branches. An oblique a1-a2 crossvein present proximally. A2 simple, proximally strongly curved posteriad. A short a2-a3 crossvein present proximally. A3 present, but distal part not preserved.

Hind wing haltere-like. Base of haltere-like structure bearing dense long hairs; head of it with slightly fewer and shorter setae on anterior margin and middle portion. Veins completely lost.

Abdomen stout and robust, densely hairy; each pregenital segment of segments 2–7 slightly larger than its anteriorly neighboring one; spiracles invisible due to poor preservation. Gonocoxites of segment 7 paired, digitiform. Segment 8 with tergum laterally enclosing spiracles, and ventrally broadly hollowed. Segment 9 with tergum slightly shorter than tergum 8 and laterally short; tergum 9 posterolaterally with a pair of ovoid valvate lobes (putative pseudohypocaudae); gonocoxite subtrapezoid, anteriorly with a small subtriangular lobe (putative hypocauda), and posteriorly with a membranous crescent lobe. Ectoprocts paired, subtriangular, feebly sclerotized, and glabrous; callus cercus absent.

Male. Unknown.

Type material. Holotype. EMTG BU-001924, amber piece preserving an almost complete adult female of H. grimaldii (left forewings mostly not preserved); it is polished in the form of a subquadrate cabochon, clear and transparent, with length×width about 22.1× 14.5 mm, height about 7.6 mm.

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to Dr. David Grimaldi who first described the species of Dipteromantispidae and made tremendous contributions on the study of fossil insects.

Figures

Figures 1 – 2. Halteriomantispa grimaldii gen. et sp. nov., holotype female, habitus, left lateral view. 1. Photo. 2. Drawing. Abbreviation: alc—anterior lateral cervical sclerite; plc—posterior lateral cervical sclerite; e—ectoproct; es—episternum; hc—hypercauda; msc—mesoscutellum; gx—gonocoxite; T—tergum; phc—pseudohypercauda; Arrow indicates haltere – like hind wing. Scale bars = 1.0 mm.

Figures 3 – 4. Halteriomantispa grimaldii gen. et sp. nov., holotype female. 3. Right forewing, drawing. 4. Posteroproximal part of left forewing, microphotograph. Scale bars = 1.0 mm.

Figures 5 – 8. Revised interpretation on homology of forewing venations in Dipteromantispidae. 5. Halteriomantispa grimaldii gen. et sp. nov. (wing apex slightly reconstructed). 6. Dipteromantsipa brevisubcosta Makarkin, Yang & Ren. 7. Mantispidiptera enigmatica Grimaldi. 8. Mantispidiptera henryi Grimaldi (5 – 8 redrawn from Makarkin et al., 2013 a). Colored veins: MA (red), MP 1 (orange), MP 2 (green), CuA (blue), CuP (yellow) and A 1 (pink).

Figures 9 – 10. Halteriomantispa grimaldii gen. et sp. nov., holotype female, genitalia in right lateral view. 9. Microphotograph. 10. Drawing. Abbreviation: e—ectoproct; hc—hypercauda; gx—gonocoxite; T—tergum; phc—pseudohypercauda. Scale bars = 1.0 mm