Retortocelis spicipalpia MEY & WICHARD, 2020

Mey, Wolfram, Wichard, Wilfried, Müller, Patrick & Wang, Bo, 2020, Descriptions of two new species of Tarachoptera from Burmese amber (Insecta, Amphiesmenoptera: Tarachoptera), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 70 (1), pp. 181-188 : 184-187

Retortocelis spicipalpia MEY & WICHARD , spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9778E7E2-EEFE-4DC5-B891-54DF114D525C

(Figs 5–8, 10, 11)

Material: Holotype, male, Burmese Amber, BW 0027, deposited in deposited in the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. NIGP 170800 ;

CONTRIBUTIONS TO ENTOMOLOGY: BEITRÄGE ZUR ENTOMOLOGIE — 70 (1) 181–188

abdominal tip, ventral aspect.

Paratypus, male, Burmese Amber , BUB 2286, deposited in Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany, MfN ( MB.I. 7342) .

Preservation: The holotype is embedded in a small, polished and flat amber block cut out from a larger amber piece. The adult insect is nearly completely preserved and clearly visible from a dorso-ventral view. The mouthparts are largely macerated. The hindwings are covered by the forewings. The paratype is more completely preserved in a large, rounded piece of amber together with some other small insects (Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Cicadina). It takes a position with all wings horizontally spread making the venation well visible.

Etymology: The name refers to the pointed terminal segment of the labial palpi, which are rounded in other species.

MEY, W.; WICHARD, W.; MÜLLER, P. & WANG, B.: DeSCripTiONS OF TWO NeW SpeCieS OF Tarachoptera FrOm BurmeSe amber

Description: Length of forewing 3.4–3.5 mm, length of hindwing 3.1 mm; head rounded and with convex surface on dorsal side; vertex broad with epicranial suture; eyes rounded, hemispherical, scape short, as long as eye diameter, flagellum with 21 filiform and scaled flagellomeres, barrel-shaped from base to tip of antenna; labial palpi long, straight, three-segmented, terminal segment longest with acute apex; mouthparts not visible.

Legs without smaller spines on all tibiae, tarsal segments with terminal pair of ventral bristles; praetatarsus with slender ungues. Wings with rounded apices and short fringes on termen, fore- and hindwings sparsely scaled with piliform scales; venation as in Figs 5, 11a–b: forewing with minute costal fold and short Sc terminating at base of crossvein sc-r beyond costal fold; basal bifurcation of radial cell (RC) opposite the costal fold; media (M) undivided, crossvein r-m not visible, crossvein m-cu1a short, fused to Cu1a after bifurcation of Cu1 and Cu1b; two anal veins (A1 and A2) present, apparently with basal loop; hindwing with long Sc and crossvein sc-r; Cu1b curved at a right angle and fused with Cu2.

Male genitalia (Figs 8, 10b–c): comb of stiff spines present on ventro-caudal margin of broad segment VIII or IX; dorsal side of genitalia roof-like and rounded, slightly narrowed in middle and curved ventrad.

Diagnosis: The species is assigned to Retortocelis on account of the presence of a costal fold in the forewings. The fold is very small and contains on the inner and ventral side some scales, which are not modified into androconial scales. The form of the fold and the small size of the species are shared characters with R. minimella MEY, WICHARD, MÜLLER, ROSS & ROSS, 2018 . However, the subcostal vein is shorter in R. spicipalpia spec. nov. and terminates at the costa and crossvein sc-r shortly behind the fold. The fold and the reduced subcosta are diagnostic characters for separating the new species from congeners. The hindwing venation of all described Retortocelis species was unknown so far. The venation