A revision of the late Eocene snakeflies (Raphidioptera) of the Florissant Formation, Colorado, with special reference to the wing venation of the Raphidiomorpha
Author
Makarkin, Vladimir N.
Author
Archibald, S. Bruce
text
Zootaxa
2014
3784
4
401
444
journal article
46097
10.11646/zootaxa.3784.4.4
16f488d9-eb77-4ff5-a7ce-99eeb7875371
1175-5326
252218
D5E03502-7BD3-41F4-A4CF-5537B1462A23
Genus
Florissantoraphidia
gen. nov.
Type
species.
Raphidia funerata
Engel, 2003
.
Diagnosis.
Moderate-sized raphidiids (forewing ca.
11 mm
long); pterostigma long, rather pale, with incorporated branch of RA distinct; distal crossvein 3ra-rp located within pterostigma, far proximad its distal ending. In hind wing, 1r-m long, parallel to R; two
doi
[one in
Archiraphidia
]; CuA pectinate, three-branched [onebranched in
Archiraphidia
,
Megaraphidia
].
Species included.
Two species from Florissant,
Florissantoraphidia mortua
(
Rohwer, 1909
)
and
F. funerata
.
Etymology.
From Florissant,
type
locality of the
type
species, and
Raphidia
, a genus-group name.
Remarks.
The three-branched pectinate CuA in the hind wing is the most distinctive feature of
Florissantoraphidia
gen. nov.
Within the family, this condition occurs only in single species of the North
America
genus
Agulla
; to our knowledge, most other species in this genus normally possess a two-branched CuA as do some species of the Palearctic genera
Phaeostigma
,
Dichrostigma
,
Harraphidia
, and
Mongoloraphidia
H. Aspöck & U. Aspöck, 1968c
. CuA is one-branched in other extant Raphiididae.
Florissantoraphidia
gen. nov.
may be distinguished from
Agulla
by the following character states: the costal space is narrower; the pterostigma is longer; 3ra-rp is located within the pterostigma [usually just distad pterostigma (very rarely in distal part of pterostigma) in
Agulla
]; the basal 1r-m in the hind wing is long, running nearly parallel to RA [short, crossvein-like, inclined to RA at some angle in
Agulla
]. The only known fossil species of
Agulla
is
A. mineralensis
known from a single hind wing, whose characters agree well with
Agulla
. We consider it likely that ‘
Agulla
’
protomaculata
from the Early Eocene Green River Formation does not belong to this genus, however (Archibald & Makarkin, ongoing research).
Some doubt remains as to the distinctiveness of the two species included here in the new genus, as differences present in their known fossils might possibly be intraspecific. We prefer to leave these separate, however, until future fossils may clarify this question.