Ainigmapsychops Temporal range: | |
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Holotype SR UI 99-96-76 | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Neuroptera |
Family: | Psychopsidae |
Genus: | † Ainigmapsychops |
Species: | †A. inexspectatus |
Binomial name | |
†Ainigmapsychops inexspectatus Makarkin & Archibald, 2014 | |
Ainigmapsychops is an extinct genus of lacewing in the silky lacewing family Psychopsidae. The genus is solely known from an Eocene fossil found in North America. At the time of its description the new genus was composed of a single species, Ainigmapsychops inexspectatus. [1]
Ainigmapsychops inexspectatus is known only from one fossil, the part side of the holotype, specimen number SRUI 99-96-76, which is housed in the collections of the Stonerose Interpretive Center in Republic, Washington. The specimen is preserved as a compression fossil in silty yellow to grayish shale, which was recovered from outcrops of the Tom Thumb Tuff member of the Klondike Mountain Formation. [1] The formation is approximately Early Eocene, Ypresian in age, being radiometrically dated as 49.4 million years old. Ainigmapsychops was first studied by the paleoentomologists Vladimir N. Makarkin of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and S. Bruce Archibald from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Their 2014 type description of the new genus and species was published in the online journal Zootaxa . The genus name Ainigmapsychops was coined by the researchers as a combination of the silky lacewing type genus Psychopsis and the Greek word Ainigma meaning "riddle" or "enigma", which is in reference to the unusual nature of the wing vein structure. [1] The specific epithet inexspectatus is the Latin word meaning "unexpected, unlooked for", alluding to the serendipitous find of the wing. [1]
Areas of the Ainigmapsychops wing venation are similar to members of the neuropteran family Osmylidae. The branches of the CuA, CuP and AA1 veins all have a steep departure angle compared to the main veins in front of them and in relation to the wing margin. [1] There are a number of features that do not conform to the characters found in Osmylidae however. [1]
The structure seen in the subcostal area, that of the second longitudinal wing vein, posterior to the costa, shows at least six weakly developed cross-veins with no connecting veins between the cross veins. This structuring is also seen in the Cretaceous Psychopsid species Undulopsychopsis alexi . [1]
The holotype is composed of a single partially complete fore-wing which is missing both the basal and the apical areas. The preserved section of the fore-wing is approximately 7 mm (0.28 in) long and 6.5 mm (0.26 in) wide, with an estimated length, if whole, of 15 mm (0.59 in). The wing has a costal space that is wide, widening towards the wing base, and which narrows greatly approaching the apex. [1] The wing does not show any cross-veins in the preserved areas of the costal space. The subcostal space is narrow showing at least six preserved cross-veins. The RA space is also narrow, but shows at least ten cross-veins which are irregularly spaced. [1]
Osmylidae are a small family of winged insects of the net-winged insect order Neuroptera. The osmylids, also called lance lacewings, stream lacewings or giant lacewings, are found all over the world except North and Central America. There are around 225 extant species.
Hemerobiidae is a family of Neuropteran insects commonly known as brown lacewings, comprising about 500 species in 28 genera. Most are yellow to dark brown, but some species are green. They are small; most have forewings 4–10 mm long. These insects differ from the somewhat similar Chrysopidae not only by the usual coloring but also by the wing venation: hemerobiids differ from chrysopids in having numerous long veins and forked costal cross veins. Some genera are widespread, but most are restricted to a single biogeographical realm. Some species have reduced wings to the degree that they are flightless. Imagines (adults) of subfamily Drepanepteryginae mimic dead leaves. Hemerobiid larvae are usually less hairy than chrysopid larvae.
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Undulopsychopsis is an extinct genus of lacewing in the silky lacewing family Psychopsidae. The genus is solely known from a Cretaceous fossil found in China. Currently the genus is composed of a single species, Undulopsychopsis alexi.
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Cretomerobius is an extinct genus of lacewings in the neuropteran family Hemerobiidae known from fossils found in Asia. The genus currently contains a single species, the Aptian C. disjunctus.
Makarkinia is an extinct genus of lacewings in the family Kalligrammatidae described by Martins-Neto in 1997 from fossils found in the Crato Formation of the Araripe Basin in northeastern Brazil. The genus contains three species dating to the Late Aptian, Makarkinia adamsi, Makarkinia kerneri and Makarkinia irmae.
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Palaeopsychops is an extinct genus of lacewing in the moth lacewings family Ithonidae. The genus is known from Early Eocene fossils found in Europe, and North America and is composed of ten species. The ten species can be informally separated into two species groups based on veination of the forewings, the "European" and "North American" groups. When first described, the genus was placed in the family Psychopsidae, but later was moved to Polystoechotidae, which itself is now considered a subgroup of the moth lacewings.
Polystoechotites is an extinct parataxon of lacewings in the moth lacewing family Ithonidae. The taxon is a collective group for fossil polystechotid giant lacewing species whose genus affiliation is uncertain, but which are distinct enough to identify as segregate species. Polystoechotites species are known from Eocene fossils found in North America and is composed of four named species Polystoechotites barksdalae, Polystoechotites falcatus, Polystoechotites lewisi, and Polystoechotites piperatus, plus two unnamed species. Three of the described species are known from fossils recovered from the Eocene Okanagan Highlands of Washington State, while the fourth is from Colorado.
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Okanagrion is an extinct odonate genus in the damselfly-like family Dysagrionidae. The genus was first described in 2021 with a series of eight species included from early Eocene Okanagan Highlands sites in western North America. The genus is known from the Late Ypresian sediments exposed in northeast central Washington at Republic where five species are present, and from the coeval McAbee Fossil Beds near Cache Creek in Central British Columbia, where four species are present. The species richness is attributed to high latitude high alpha diversity resulting from climatic equitability during the Early Eocene in combination with resultant beta diversity between sites due to impassible topographical barriers.
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