Protolingia, Khramov, Alexander V., 2012

Khramov, Alexander V., 2012, The new fossil lacewings of Grammolingiidae (Neuroptera) from the Jurassic of Central Asia and Mongolia, with notes on biogeography of the family, Zootaxa 3478, pp. 297-308 : 298-299

Genus Protolingia gen. nov.

Type species. Protolingia mira gen. et sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Sc and R1 are fused in the distal part of wing and run by common stem to the wing margin.

Comparison. Protolingia is similar to other genera of Grammolingiidae in some main features (such as wing shape with acute apex, abundance of crossveins, structure of the costal area, Rs and MP), except Sc and R1, which are fused in the distal portion of wing. This feature differs Protolingia from other four genera of Grammolingiidae ( Leptolingia Ren, 2002 , Grammolingia Ren, 2002 , Litholingia Ren, 2002 and Chorilingia shi et al, 2012), whose Sc and R1 are not fused. Since the fusion of Sc and R1 is not typical for other known Grammolingiidae , it is possible that the find of Protolingia should motivate us to revise the diagnosis of the whole family, which, as Protolingia proves, may include lacewings not only with the entirely separated Sc and R1.

Etymology. The new genus name is derived from the Greek protos (meaning “first”) and the Chinese Ling (meaning “lacewing”). The gender is feminine.