A new genus and species of berothids (Insecta, Neuroptera) from the Late Cretaceous Myanmar amber

Phylogenetic position of the subfamily Symphrasinae (Insecta: Neuroptera), its intergeneric relationships and evolution of the raptorial condition within Mantispoidea

The superfamily Mantispoidea (Insecta: Neuroptera) includes the families Berothidae, Rhachiberothidae and Mantispidae. Among these taxa, the last two are collectively known as Raptorial Mantispoidea due to the presence of grasping forelegs for predatory habits. The Mantispidae classically included the subfamilies Symphrasinae, Drepanicinae, Calomantispinae and Mantispinae, yet recent research challenged this classification scheme as well as the monophyly of this family resulting in Symphrasinae being transferred to Rhachiberothidae. The phylogenetic position of the subfamily Symphrasinae within Mantispoidea is here inferred based on total evidence analysis combining three genes (COI , 16S and 18S ) and 72 morphological characters scored from living representatives of all Mantispidae subfamilies (12 genera), the 3 genera of Symphrasinae, and Rhachiberothinae (1 genus). Representatives of Berothidae (four genera) and Hemerobiidae (one genus) were used as outgroup taxa. Results of the total evidence analysis were compared with parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses of the morphological and molecular datasets of the COI , 16S and 18S genes. The resultant phylogeny under total evidence recovered Rhachiberothidae as a monophyletic group with strong support in which Symphrasinae was found as sister to Rhachiberothinae. The three genera contained in Symphrasinae, i.e. Anchieta , Plega and Trichoscelia were each recovered as monophyletic in the parsimony analysis, with Anchieta as sister to Trichoscelia + Plega . The family Mantispidae was also recovered as monophyletic and sister to Rhachiberothidae, with Mantispinae as sister to Calomantispinae + Drepanicinae. Evolution of the raptorial condition in Mantispoidea is discussed based on the performed analyses. The morphology and the structure of the raptorial foreleg and the prothorax (i.e. the raptorial system) support the close relationship of Symphrasinae with Rhachiberothinae rather than to other Mantispidae subfamilies which possess a distinctive and well-differentiated raptorial apparatus. The Rhachiberothidae (including Symphrasinae) are distinguished by the presence of a foretarsal Stitz organ. Furthermore, a sit-and-wait predatory strategy is hypothesised for this taxon, whereas the Mantispidae are likely sophisticated active-ambushing predators.

The first Triassic beaded lacewing (Neuroptera: Berothidae) from Central Asia, with redescription of Mesoberotha superb (Riek, 1955)

Ferganoberotha minutissima gen. et sp. nov. (Berothidae) is described from the Middle-Late Triassic Madygen Formation (Kyrgyzstan) based on an isolated forewing. This is the first species of Triassic Berothidae to be reported from Eurasia. Mesoberotha superb (Riek, 1955), the type genus of Mesoberothidae from the Late Triassic of Australia, is redescribed and transferred to Berothidae, thereby making the former family a junior synonym of the latter.

A new species of beaded lacewings (Neuroptera, Berothidae) from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber

A new species of Berothidae, Jersiberotha musivum sp. nov., is described and illustrated from mid-Cretaceous (lowest Cenomanian) Myanmar amber. It is easily distinguished from other species of Berothidae by the configuration of the wing venation including: forewing with distinct areas of infuscation surrounding cross-veins and vein forks, all cross-veins simple prior to ScP-RA fusion, presence of two cross-veins ra-rp; absence of inner or outer graduate series of cross-veins; RP with three branches; and absence of ma-mp cross-veins and cua-cup cross-veins; while hind wing has cross-vein 1r-m absent. The previous diagnoses of Iceloberotha Grimaldi, 2000 and Jersiberotha Grimaldi, 2000 are quite unclear because some characters occur mosaically in both genera. In order to solve this problem and distinguish J. musivum from other species in the family, a new key to species of Berothidae from Myanmar amber has been provided and the diagnoses of Iceloberotha and Jersiberotha have been revised.