Oligomonoctenus neytiriae, NEL & WEI & NIU & GARROUSTE & JOUAULT, 2023

NEL, ANDRÉ, WEI, MEI-CAI, NIU, GENG-YUN, GARROUSTE, ROMAIN & JOUAULT, CORENTIN, 2023, Description of a new fossil genus of conifer sawfly (Hymenoptera: Diprionidae) revealed by UV light, Palaeoentomology 6 (3), pp. 313-320 : 314-315

Oligomonoctenus neytiriae sp. nov.

( Figs 1–3 ) urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:64A3AF06-E938-476A-9A2F-B366E7401A32

Material. Holotype (female) MNHN.F.A71362 (part and counterpart of a nearly complete wasp, with legs and mouthparts missing, forewings well visible, but hind wings only partly preserved), stored at the Museum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France.

Etymology. Named after Neytiri, princess of the Na’vi people from the planet Pandora in the animation movie series Avatar (James Cameron, director, 2009 and 2022), a blue and bioluminescent skin people who defend nature and life in all its forms.

Diagnosis. As for the genus by monotypy.

Type locality and horizon. Aix paleolake, Éguille , Bouches-du-Rhône, France; Latest Oligocene, insect layers .

Description. Female. Body 8.0 mm long; head deformed by compression, visible part 0.7 mm long, 1.8 mm wide; mouthparts not visible; right antenna well visible under UV light, not reaching posterior part of thorax, with 22 antennomeres, of decreasing lengths, nearly all wider than long, except for scape and pedicel; eyes 0.5 mm long, but deformed; ocelli partly visible in profile, anterior margin of lateral ocellus at level with middle of median ocellus; lateral ocelli apparently as far apart as each is from an eye margin; clypeus very short and wide, at least four times as broad as middle length; epistomal furrow curved, distinct.

Thorax 4.5 mm long, 2.0 mm wide; posterior margin of pronotum in dorsal view strongly concave; anterior part of mesoscutellum angular, slightly obtuse, forming an angle of 110°; mesoscutellar appendage narrow but distinct, visible under UV light; cenchri narrow and transverse, three times longer than wide; abdomen 4.7 mm long, 3.3 mm wide, with genital appendages partly preserved, ovipositor sheaths visible under UV light, acute and short, ca. 0.5 mm long, not expanded distad of abdomen apex. Forewing 7.6 mm long, 2.9 mm wide; vein C not strongly swollen at apex; stigma broad; vein M separating from vein Cu at 2.2 mm distad of wing base; basal part of vein M nearly straight, ending in vein R very close to origin of vein Rs+M, thus length of vein R+M between junctions with veins M and Rs+M shorter than first sector of vein Rs; first sector of vein M and crossvein 1m-cu convergent toward stigma; vein R straight, not curved posteriorly before its junction with vein M; distance between junctions of vein M with vein M+Cu and junction of vein Rs+M with vein R 2.5 times length of crossvein 1m-cu; vein 2m-cu strongly curved, joining cell 1Rs2 near vein 2r-m; cell 1M 1.6 mm long, 0.9 mm wide; vein 1cu-a in distal half of cell 1M; vein Rs+M straight; cell 1R1 rather large, well separated from cell Rs; cells Rs and 1Rs2 long; vein 2A+3A completely outlined (see forewing on right side in Fig. 2B ) and fused with 1A, forming a basal anal cell.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Oligomonoctenus neytiriae gen. et sp. nov., holotype MNHN.F.A71362. Habitus. A, Imprint. B, Counterimprint. Scale bars = 1 mm.

FIGURE 2. Oligomonoctenus neytiriae gen. et sp. nov., holotype MNHN.F.A71362. Habitus under ultraviolet light. A, Imprint. B, Counterimprint. Scale bars = 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. Oligomonoctenus neytiriae gen. et sp. nov., holotype MNHN.F.A71362. A, Head and thorax, imprint. B, Head and thorax, counterimprint. C, Head, counterimprint. D, Fore- and hind wings. E, Reconstruction of forewing. Scale bars = 1 mm (A, B, D, E), 0.5 mm (C).