Revision of the bizarre Mesozoic scorpionflies in the Pseudopolycentropodidae (Mecopteroidea)

2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Grimaldi ◽  
Alexandr Rasnitsyn ◽  
Zhang Junfeng ◽  
Nicholas Fraser

AbstractThe Mesozoic family Pseudopolycentropodidae presently consists of seven described species from the mid-Triassic to the Late Jurassic of Europe and Asia. Pseudopolycentropus prolatipennis Whalley, from the Early Jurassic of England, is revised based on re-examination of the type. Four new species are described herein that add significant distributional and stratigraphic extensions to the family. Pseudopolycentropodes virginicus Grimaldi and Fraser, gen. n., sp. n. from the Late Triassic (Carnian) of Virginia USA is the first species of the family from the Western Hemisphere. Pseudopolycentropus daohugouensis Zhang, sp. n. from the Late Jurassic of China is very similar to P. latipennis Martynov, 1927 from the Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan. Four specimens belonging to two very similar species in mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Burma (Myanmar), Parapolycentropus burmiticus Grimaldi and Rasnitsyn, gen. n., sp. n. and P. paraburmiticus Grimaldi and Rasnistyn, sp. n., are the only specimens of the family from the Cretaceous. The amber species are exceptional, with the hind wing reduced to a minute lobe, the antennal flagellum modified into an arista, labial palps are lost, and – like the Late Jurassic species — the laciniae and what are probably mandibles are modified into a long, stylet-like proboscis. What the species with long proboscides fed upon is ambiguous, but it was doubtfully blood. Complete preservation in amber of morphological details, particularly the female terminalia, confirms previous views that this unusual group is phylogenetically basal to Recent Mecoptera.

Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4450 (1) ◽  
pp. 108
Author(s):  
GÜNTER BECHLY

A new species of fossil dragonfly, Proinogomphus kreuzerorum sp. nov. (Liassogomphidae), is described from the Early Jurassic black shale of Bascharage in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, based on a very well-preserved isolated female hind wing. This genus was previously only known from the Liassic of Braunschweig region in Germany, and is here recorded for the first time for this fossil locality. The classification of the family Liassogomphidae Tillyard, 1935 and the genus Proinogomphus Cowley, 1942 is briefly discussed and the diagnosis of the latter is emended. 


Phytotaxa ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 205 (2) ◽  
pp. 90 ◽  
Author(s):  
XIN-LEI FAN ◽  
KEVIN D. HYDE ◽  
JIAN-KUI LIU ◽  
YING-MEI LIANG ◽  
CHENG-MING TIAN

The family Botryosphaeriaceae encompasses important plant-associated pathogens, endophytes and saprobes with a wide geographical and host distribution. Two dark-spored botryosphaeriaceous taxa associated with Rhus typhina dieback and canker disease were collected from Ningxia Province, in northwestern China. Morphology and multigene analysis (ITS, LSU and EF-1α) clearly distinguished this clade as a distinct species in the genus. Phaeobotryon rhois is introduced and illustrated as a new species in this paper. The species is characterized by its globose, unilocular fruiting bodies and small, brown, 1-septate conidia. It can be distinguished from the similar species P. cercidis, P. cupressi, P. mamane and P. quercicola based on host association and conidial size and colour.


Botany ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (8) ◽  
pp. 530-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Poinar ◽  
Royce Steeves

The Myristicaceae is a member of the early diverging angiosperm order Magnoliales; however, the family is poorly represented by fossil collections. We describe Virola dominicana sp. nov. (Myristicaceae), the first record of fossilized Myristicaceae flowers, from mid-Tertiary (45–15 million years ago) Dominican amber. The description is based on 24 male flowers in 17 pieces of amber, thus providing some indication of intraspecific variation, including a two-tepaled flower. Diagnostic characters of the new species are the long-simple or few-branched trichomes on the perianth margins, the small pollen grains, and a short staminal column. These fossils also show co-occurring insects, some of which could be Virola pollinators. It is speculated that V. dominicana disappeared from Hispaniola during the Pliocene–Pleistocene cooling events leaving no native members of the Myristicaceae in this region today. Additionally, these fossils demonstrate that Myristicaceae was present in the Western Hemisphere during the mid-Tertiary.


2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomás Munilla León

Specimens of 22 species of pycnogonids belonging to twelve genera and seven families were collected during a cruise near Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands. Twenty two of the 94 stations yielded pycnogonids: the new species Ammothea hesperidensis is described fully, illustrated, and compared with similar species. The family Nymphonidae provided both the greatest diversity of species (seven) and number of specimens (35). The most abundant species were Achelia hoekii and Nymphon australe.


2018 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 21-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Marzola ◽  
Octávio Mateus ◽  
Jesper Milàn ◽  
Lars B. Clemmensen

This article presents a synthesis of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic fossil tetrapods from Greenland, including an updated review of the holotypes and a new photographic record of the main specimens. All fossil tetrapods found are from East Greenland, with at least 30 different known taxa: five stem tetrapods (Acanthostega gunnari, Ichthyostega eigili, I. stensioi, I. watsoni, and Ymeria denticulata) from the Late Devonian of the Aina Dal and Britta Dal Formations; four temnospondyl amphibians (Aquiloniferus kochi, Selenocara groenlandica, Stoschiosaurus nielseni, and Tupilakosaurus heilmani) from the Early Triassic of the Wordie Creek Group; two temnospondyls (Cyclotosaurus naraserluki and Gerrothorax cf. pulcherrimus), one testudinatan (cf. Proganochelys), two stagonolepids (Aetosaurus ferratus and Paratypothorax andressorum), the eudimorphodontid Arcticodactylus, undetermined archosaurs (phytosaurs and both sauropodomorph and theropod dinosaurs), the cynodont Mitredon cromptoni, and three mammals (Haramiyavia clemmenseni, Kuehneotherium, and cf. ?Brachyzostrodon), from the Late Triassic of the Fleming Fjord Formation; one plesiosaur from the Early Jurassic of the Kap Stewart Formation; one plesiosaur and one ichthyosaur from the Late Jurassic of the Kap Leslie Formation, plus a previously unreported Late Jurassic plesiosaur from Kronprins Christian Land. Moreover, fossil tetrapod trackways are known from the Late Carboniferous (morphotype Limnopus) of the Mesters Vig Formation and at least four different morphologies (such as the crocodylomorph Brachychirotherium, the auropodomorph Eosauropus and Evazoum, and the theropodian Grallator) associated to archosaurian trackmakers are known from the Late Triassic of the Fleming Fjord Formation. The presence of rich fossiliferous tetrapod sites in East Greenland is linked to the presence of well-exposed continental and shallow marine deposits with most finds in terrestrial deposits from the Late Devonian and the Late Triassic.


Zootaxa ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 3637 (5) ◽  
pp. 561
Author(s):  
HONGLIANG WANG ◽  
WEIHAI LI ◽  
DING YANG

A distinctive new species of the genus Nemoura is described from the Taihang Mountains of northern China, N. taihang-shana. The new species is compared with similar species. Amphinemura sinensis (Wu, 1926) is redescribed and the first record of N. geei Wu, 1929 from Henan Province is also given.


2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 748-757
Author(s):  
Jobst Wendt

AbstractIn contrast to almost all other invertebrate phyla that constructed biomineralized skeletons during the “Cambrian explosion” and maintained them during the entire fossil record, ascidian tunicates evolved this protective and stabilizing advantage only during the Permian, although soft-bodied representatives of this subphylum made their first appearance already in the early Cambrian. It remains enigmatic why these compound calcareous skeletons persisted only until the Late Triassic, subsequently followed by less-rigid internal skeletons from the Lower Jurassic onwards, which consist of scattered isolated spicules only. In addition to recently described aragonitic ascidian exoskeletons from the Permian and Triassic, new discoveries of similar, but colonial ascidian compound endoskeletons in the lower Carnian exhibit a short-living branch of this group, which moreover contain the first indubitable calcareous spicules. The latter are embedded in the solid endoskeleton, which is composed of polygonal aragonitic plates with smooth outer and zigzag lined inner boundaries. They consist of irregular, parallel (orthogonal), or fan-shaped (clinogonal) arrangements of acicular aragonite crystals. The following taxa are described as new: order Cassianomorpha new order with the family Cassianosomidae new family and the genus Toscanisoma new genus with the species T. multipartitum new species and T. triplicatum new species.UUID: http://zoobank.org/03555353-cdab-42e8-8e99-9bfce15fa249


MycoKeys ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 53-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan-Pin Xiao ◽  
Sinang Hongsanan ◽  
Kevin D. Hyde ◽  
Siraprapa Brooks ◽  
Ning Xie ◽  
...  

Ophiocordyceps is entomopathogenic and the largest studied genus in the family Ophiocordycipitaceae. Many species in this genus have been reported from Thailand. The first new species introduced in this paper, Ophiocordycepsglobiceps, differs from other species based on its smaller perithecia, shorter asci and secondary ascospores and additionally, in parasitising fly species. Phylogenetic analyses of combined LSU, SSU, ITS, TEF1α and RPB1 sequence data indicate that O.globiceps forms a distinct lineage within the genus Ophiocordyceps as a new species. The second new species, Ophiocordycepssporangifera, is distinguished from closely related species by infecting larvae of insects (Coleoptera, Elateridae) and by producing white to brown sporangia, longer secondary synnemata and shorter primary and secondary phialides. We introduce O.sporangifera based on its significant morphological differences from other similar species, even though phylogenetic distinction is not well-supported.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 446-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHAOFAN SHI ◽  
QIANG YANG ◽  
CONGSHUANG DENG ◽  
HONG PANG ◽  
DONG REN

Mantispidae is a lacewing family with over 400 extant species (Ohl, 2004, 2007; Oswald, 2015). The family is divided into four extant subfamilies Symphrasinae, Drepanicinae, Calomantispinae, Mantispinae and one extinct subfamily Mesomantispinae (Lambkin, 1986a, b; Wedmann & Makarkin, 2007). The living mantispids are distributed cosmopolitan except Antarctica. Fossil mantispids have been recorded since Early Jurassic (Ansorge & Schlüter, 1990; Wedmann & Makarkin, 2007; Khramov, 2013; Jepson et al., 2013, 2018a, b; Shi et al., 2019). The fossils are mainly from the Eurasia, with exception of two Miocene genera from Mexican and Dominican (Engel & Grimaldi, 2007).


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard S. Kelly ◽  
Andrew J. Ross ◽  
Robert A. Coram

Species previously attributed to Necrotauliidae are revised from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic of England based on examination of type specimens and non-type material. The necrotauliids have been considered as a basal family of caddisflies (Trichoptera) or as a paraphyletic assemblage of stem-amphiesmenopterans. Herein a new genus, Austaulius, is erected which includes all Lilstock Formation∖Lower Lias material from England; the previously described species are synonymized with A. furcatus and a new species, A. haustrum, is described from the Dorset Coast, the holotype of which preserves synapomorphic traits of the Trichoptera not previously described suggesting that the family is trichopteran. The type genus remains Necrotaulius and type species N. parvulus (Geinitz, 1884) from the type locality of Dobbertin, Germany. One species of Necrotaulius is represented in the UK, N. parvulus, which is found in the Upper Lias.


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