Leptotarsus grimaldii, Ribeiro, Guilherme C. & Lukashevich, Elena D., 2014

Ribeiro, Guilherme C. & Lukashevich, Elena D., 2014, New Leptotarsus from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil and Spain: the oldest members of the family Tipulidae (Diptera), Zootaxa 3753 (4), pp. 347-363 : 349

Leptotarsus grimaldii sp. nov.

( Figs 1, 2 , 10–13 )

Type material. Holotype: AMNH SA 46358 (entire male specimen, preserved in dorsal view; preserved structures include the long antennae, left front leg and terminalia). Paratype: AMNH SA 46366 (entire male specimen, preserved in lateral view; preserved structures include head with mouthparts, the long antennae, and middle legs). NE Brazil, Santana Fm., Aptian/Albian, Early Cretaceous. Both housed in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA.

Etymology. The species is named after Dr. David Grimaldi, curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, for his great contribution to the paleontology of insects.

Diagnosis. This species differs from the other Cretaceous species mostly by having the distal sections of veins M3 and M4 very similar in length and shape, running parallel to each other.

Description. Male. Head. Head capsule with an anterodorsal protuberance; antenna long and slender, bearing long and slender flagellomeres (total number of flagellomeres unknown); scape stout and long, ca. 3.5x longer than pedicel; nasus distinct; rostrum ca. 0.5x the total length of head. Thorax stout, ca. 1.8x longer than wide and almost as long as high. Wing transparent except for dark pterostigma and costal field. Sc reaching wing margin at the level of first bifurcation of Rs and beyond the level of the tip of Cu; sc-r present, positioned near the tip of Sc; Rs curved, subequal in length with R2+3; R1 reaching wing margin at the level of bifurcation of R2+3; r-r oblique, linking R1 to R2; R2 oblique; medial vein four-branched; discal cell small, ca. 1.23 to 1.5x longer than wide; veins M3 and M4 running parallel to each other, very similar in length and shape; m-cu linking Cu to the base of M4. Abdomen stout, ca. 1.7x longer than thorax; gonocoxite conical, ca. 2.4x longer than wide; gonostylus divided with clasper of gonostylus slightly longer than the lobe of gonostylus.

Measurements. Male. Antenna length, at least 16.49. Body length, ca. 7.2. Wing length/width ca. 6.9/ 1.78– 1.89.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 4. Wing venation of Leptotarsus spp. from Santana Formation, Early Cretaceous, Brazil. 1 — L. grimaldii sp. nov., holotype AMNH SA 46358, right wing. 2 — L. grimaldii sp. nov., paratype AMNH SA 46366, left wing. 3 — L. cretaceus sp. nov., holotype AMNH SA 46354, right wing. 4 — L. martinsnetoi sp. nov., holotype MZUSP 1580, left wing.

FIGURES 10 – 11. Leptotarsus grimaldii, sp. nov., from Santana Formation, Early Cretaceous, Brazil, holotype AMNH SA 46358. 10 — Total view. 11 — Detail of abdomen and genitalia.

FIGURES 12 – 13. Leptotarsus grimaldii, sp. nov., from Santana Formation, Early Cretaceous, Brazil, paratype AMNH SA 46366. 12 — Total view. 13 — Detail of head. Abbreviations: comp eye: compound eye; lbl: labella; na: nasus; ped: pedicel; plp: palpus; scp: scape.