Sorellembia estherae, Engel & Grimaldi, 2006

Engel, Michael S. & Grimaldi, David A., 2006, The Earliest Webspinners (Insecta: Embiodea), American Museum Novitates 3514 (1), pp. 1-16 : 5-7

Sorellembia estherae , new species

Figures 1–2

DIAGNOSIS: As for the genus (vide supra).

DESCRIPTION: The same characters as provided for diagnosing the family with the following additions: Male (alate). Total body length (excluding antennae) approximately 4.6 mm; forewing length approximately 3.5 mm. Integument dark brown, apparently smooth (microsculpturing not evident). Head longer than wide; compound eyes prominent,

TABLE 2 Comparison of Three Classifications moderate-sized; set anteriorly on head near antennal sockets; portion of head behind posterior tangent of compound eyes approximately 1.5 times length of compound eyes; posterior border rounded. Mandibles large, prominent, apically dentate; incisor with at least two teeth. Forewing with membrane hyaline; Sc disappearing rapidly in basal third of wing, weakly arched posteriorly; R terminating into C well before wing apex; 1r-rs + ma crossvein and three r-rs crossveins (fig. 2); single evanescent (i.e., faint to nearly obsolete medially) rs-ma crossvein present, positioned at midpoint between distalmost r-rs crossveins (i.e., at midpoint between 2r-rs and 3r-rs), meeting MA at distal quarter of abscissa of M between MA origin and MA bifurcation; MA separating from Rs near wing midpoint, shortly after 1r-rs + ma crossvein; single evanescent ma-mp crossvein present before midpoint of MA origin and MA bifurcation; MA bifurcating prior to point at which R terminates; short mp-cua crossvein present shortly after separation of Rs + MA from MP; MP simple; more posterior portions of forewing obscured. Male terminalia as depicted in figure 2 and as described for the family. Female. Unknown.

2005) whose passing on May 18 marked the close of a special life; though short in stature she was powerful in spirit. Lucan (nephew of the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger) wrote, ‘‘The gods conceal from men the happiness of death, that they may endure life.’’ Having joyfully endured these many years on Earth, may she now know a more complete and eternal happiness.

MATERIAL: Holotype. Male alate, AMNH Bu-227, Myanmar ( Burma): Cretaceous, Kachin, Tanai Village (on Ledo Road 105 km NW Myitkyna). Deposited in the Amber Collection, Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York. This is the material discussed and figured as an undescribed Cretaceous amber embiodean by Grimaldi et al. (2002: their fig. 22a) and Grimaldi and Engel (2005: their fig. 7.13).

ETYMOLOGY: The specific epithet is a matronymic honoring Mrs. Esther Pratt (1911–

FAMILY NOTOLIGOTOMIDAE DAVIS

COMMENTS: The family is used herein in a slightly expanded sense than as employed by many recent authors. Instead, our usage of the family is closer to that of Davis (1940a, 1940b). We have considered the family Australembiidae as a subfamily of Notoligotomidae as both of these small, Australian families ( Notoligotominae may also contain some undescribed Southeast Asian species) share the distinctive combination of a greatly reduced right cercus and have the two sections of the left cercus fused. The fusion of the left cercal sections is incomplete, with the two sections still distinguishable, in the basal subfamily Notoligotominae , while these sections are indistinguishably fused in Burmitembiinae and Australembiinae . Males of Notoligotominae and Burmitembiinae primitively retain wings, while australembiines are completely apterous. Burmitembia is an intermediary between Australembiinae and typical Notoligotominae . As more phylogenetic work on the Embiodea is conducted itmay be warranted to recognize Burmitembiinae as a tribe of an expanded Australembiinae , thereby more completely reflecting hierarchical relationships of Notoligotomidae in the classification.

Burmitembiinae , new subfamily

Burmitembiidae Zherikhin, 1980: 78 (nomen nudum). Type genus: Burmitembia Cockerell, 1919 . Ross and York, 2000: 11 (nomen nudum).

TYPE GENUS: Burmitembia Cockerell, 1919 .

DIAGNOSIS: Males fully winged, of small size (approximately 4.5 mm in total length). Forewing with Sc terminating in basal third of wing; R terminating into C well before wing apex; crossveins relatively sparse but more numerous than many living species; three rsma crossveins, distalmost crossvein (i.e., 3rsma) evanescent (i.e., vanishing medially) and positioned before distalmost r-rs crossvein; MA simple; at least four ma-mp crossveins present, all apparently evanescent; MP, CuA, CuP, and A simple; wing membrane hyaline. Metabasitarsus with two ventral plantulae (one medial, one apical); metatarsomere II with single ventral plantula. Right cercus with basal section enlarged, distal section vestigial; left cercal sections indistinguishably fused (as in Australembiinae ).

Figures

Fig. 1. Dorsal photomicrograph of Sorellembia estherae n.gen., n.sp., holotype male (Bu-227).