Eosyntexis Rasnitsyn, 1990

Ortega-Blanco, J., Rasnitsyn, A. P. & Delclòs, X., 2008, First record of anaxyelid woodwasps (Hymenoptera: Anaxyelidae) in Lower Cretaceous Spanish amber, Zootaxa 1937, pp. 39-50 : 42

Genus Eosyntexis Rasnitsyn, 1990

Type species: Eosyntexis senilis Rasnitsyn, 1990 .

Included species: E. senilis Rasnitsyn, 1990 from the Lower Cretaceous of Transbaikalia, E. tuffinae Rasnitsyn & Jarzembowski in Rasnitsyn et al., 1998 from the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian in age) of England, E. catalonica Rasnitsyn & Martínez-Delclòs, 2000 and E. parva sp. n. from the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian and Albian in age, respectively) of Spain.

New diagnosis of the genus. Forewing ( Fig. 1 C-F, 2D) with pterostigma sclerotized; crossvein 1r-rs lost; cell 1mcu pentagonal or, if hexagonal, with one side very short; crossvein 2r-rs arising from the mid-part of pterostigma (not from near apex); M+Cu vein straight or slightly arched only very basally; section 3Cu shorter than 4Cu. Flagellomeres of the antenna less than twice as long as wide ( Figs. 4A, C). Pronotum with distinct fore and upper faces meeting at angle ( Fig. 3E). Propleura not elongated to form a distinct neck ( Figs. 2B, 3A).

Remarks. Within Syntexinae , Syntexis is the most distinct because of its flat pronotum, transparent (unsclerotized) pterostigma, R lost beyond pterostigma, 1r-rs retained, section 3Cu and cell 2a very long (longer than half of 1a). These characters are difficult to evaluate without a cladistic analysis, although they suggest that Eosyntexis is more closely related to Cretosyntexis than to Syntexis (except for the form of pronotum which is not known in sufficient detail for Cretosyntexis ). Nevertheless, Eosyntexis is more like Syntexis than Cretosyntexis in some wing characters, such as having 2r-rs placed at pterostigmal mid-length (correlating with this, RS before it very long and arched near 1mcu), M+Cu straight and 1mcu pentagonal or almost so. Eosyntexis differs from the other genera in having flagellomeres comparatively short. The main similarity between Eosyntexis and Cretosyntexis lies in loss of 1r-rs and pronotum differentiated into fore and upper faces meeting at angle. Similarities between Syntexis and Eosyntexis are the straight M+Cu, the pentagonal 1mcu and the proximal position of 2r-rs. Finally, Syntexis and Cretosyntexis resemble each other in having long, narrow antennomeres. The exact relationships between the different genera are impossible to decide without a cladistic analysis.