Paragonophlebia inexpectata, Nel, 2009

Nel, André, 2009, A new Odonata family from the Jurassic of Central Asia (Odonata: Epiproctophora), Journal of Natural History 43 (1 - 2), pp. 57-64 : 59-61

Paragonophlebia inexpectata sp. nov.

( Figures 1 and 2 )

Material

Holotype male specimen PIN 2784 /08, Arthropod Laboratory , Palaeontological Institute, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia.

Etymology

Named after the very strange combination of characters of this species.

Geological setting

Upper Jurassic, Callovian-Kimmeridgian or Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian ( Zherikhin and Gratshev 1993; Mostovski and Martínez-Delclòs 2000). Karatau, Chimkent region, Southern Kazakhstan, C.E.S.

Diagnosis

Very close to Paragonophlebia patriciae , the only differences being the slightly longer wing, less numerous secondary antenodal cross-veins (nine instead 11 or 12), and smaller subdiscoidal space.

Description

A thorax with an incomplete forewing and a nearly complete hind wing; posterodistal half of forewing missing; wings hyaline. Forewing 44.0 mm long, 10.2 mm wide; distance between base and arculus, 6.4 mm, between arculus and nodus, 16.2 mm, between nodus and pterostigma, 15.8 mm, between pterostigma and apex, 1.1 mm; pterostigma, 4.5 mm long; wing shortly petiolate; one row of cells between posterior wing margin and AA; AA nearly parallel to MP; median area free of cross-veins, no cross-vein in submedian area; a curved strong vein CuP separating submedian and subdiscoidal areas; subdiscoidal space free of cross-veins, elongate but not transverse, 1.09 mm long and 1.6 mm wide; discoidal cell basally opened; RP+MA separated at right angle from RA, strongly curved; RP separated from MA 0.40 mm distally; just distal of arculus; MA divided into MAa and MAb 0.7 mm distally; MAb short, 1.3 mm long, well aligned with distal free part of CuA; CuA separating from MP 7.5 mm from wing base and directed towards posterior wing margin for 0.65 mm; CuA basally very strong, just as if there was a crossing of MAb with MP and if MAb was distally fused with CuA; CuA distally fused with AA 0.6 mm from posterior wing margin, CuA (+AA) divided into a very short CuAb directed towards posterior wing margin and CuAa basally more or less parallel to posterior wing margin and distally delimiting a short but rather broad cubitoanal area, with three posterior branches and four rows of cells in its broadest part; CuA distally zigzagged; area between CuA and MP with one or two rows of large transverse cells; distal of end of CuA, five rows of cells in area between MP and posterior wing margin; MP nearly straight, MAa nearly straight but zigzagged and nearly vanishing distally; one row of cells in postdiscoidal area, 1.4 mm wide; two very strong primary antenodal cross-veins, Ax1 0.6 mm basal of arculus and Ax2 1.9 mm distal of arculus; Ax2 and Ax1 perpendicular to ScP and R+MA; 13 antenodal cross-veins of first row between C and ScP and 11 secondary antenodal cross-veins of second row between SCP and RA; 12 postnodal cross-veins between C and RA; more than six postsubnodal cross-veins between RA and RP1 basal of pterostigma, not aligned with postnodals; 12 cross-veins in area between RA and RP, between arculus and nodus; base of RP3/4 5.9 mm distal of arculus, closer to arculus than to nodus; base of IR2 well distal of that of RP3/4, three cells and 5.4 mm distally; three antefurcal cross-veins present in space between RP and MA basal of midfork (base of RP3/4); pterostigmal brace and number of cross-veins below pterostigma unknown; pterostigma long but rather broad, sclerotized, 4.6 mm long and 0? 5 mm wide; vein C strongly widened along pterostigma; nodal Cr, subnodus and RP2 aligned; 16 cross-veins in long Bqr space between RP, RP2, IR2 and vein ‘O’; one oblique vein ‘O’ seven cells and 6.04 mm distal of base of RP2; RP2 nearly straight in its preserved part; base of IR1 five cells and 7.25 mm distal of base of RP2; IR1 basally zigzagged, area between RP3/4 and IR2 with about three rows of cells in its distal preserved part; area between IR2 and RP2 with one row of cells from their bases to level of pterostigma.

Hind wing of nearly same length as fore-wing, 46.0 mm long, about 10 mm wide (at nodus level); distance between base and arculus, 6.04 mm, between arculus and nodus, 18.7 mm, between nodus and pterostigma, 15.8 mm, between pterostigma and apex 4.4 mm; pterostigma relatively close to apex, no membranule; anal area unicellular, relatively narrow, 4.94 mm long and 0.98 mm wide, elongate triangular in shape; a smooth anal angle (male specimen); AA distally strongly bent towards posterior wing margin and nearly parallel with CuA+MP, distally not reaching CuAb; median and submedian area free of cross-veins; a curved vein CuP in a very distal position below distal half of discoidal cell, separating submedian and subdiscoidal areas; subdiscoidal space long and broad, 1.2 mm wide, transverse, posteriorly opened and divided into two smaller cells; discoidal cell basally closed, 3.7 mm long and 0.9 mm wide, free of cross-vein, length of its proximal side, 0.4 mm, of distal side, 1.5 mm; RP+MA separated at right angle from RA, strongly curved; RP separated from MA 0.76 mm distally; MA basally very strong; MA divided into MAa and MAb 2.1 mm distally; MAb shorter, 1.5 mm long, well-aligned with distal free part of CuA; CuA separating from MP 8.2 mm from wing base and directed towards posterior wing margin for 1.2 mm; CuA distally divided into CuAa and CuAb, CuAb 1.2 mm long, directed towards wing base, not meeting main branch of AA but reaching posterior wing margin; CuAa more or less parallel to posterior wing margin with one or two rows of cells basally, CuAa distally zigzagged and vanishing in area between MP and posterior margin; area between CuAa and MP with one row of large cells basally, 1.75 mm wide; distal of end of CuAa, seven rows of cells in area between MP and posterior wing margin; MP straight, reaching posterior margin well distal of nodus level, about 35.1 mm from wing base, at 76% of total wing length; MAa nearly straight basally and distally zigzagged, parallel with MP, with one row of cells in postdiscoidal area, 1.5 mm wide, this area being narrower near the posterior wing margin; two very strong primary antenodal crossveins, Ax1 0.8 mm basal of arculus and Ax2 2.2 mm distal of arculus, Ax2 and Ax1 nearly perpendicular to ScP and R+MA; nine secondary antenodal cross-veins of first row not aligned with the nine cross-veins of second row; 10 cross-veins in area between RA and RP, between arculus and nodus; base of RP3/4 3.3 mm distal of arculus, closer to arculus than to nodus; base of IR2 well distal of that of RP3/4, 5.1 mm distally; no antefurcal cross-veins present in space between RP and MA basal of midfork; 12 postnodal cross-veins between C and RA; nine postsubnodal crossveins between RA and RP1 not aligned with postnodals; pterostigmal brace unknown; pterostigma sclerotized long but broad, 4.4 mm long and 0.55 mm wide; not basally recessed as in forewing; vein C strongly widened along pterostigma; area between C and RA distal of pterostigma with about five cross-veins; RP2 aligned with subnodus and nodal Cr; 12 cross-veins in long Bqr space between RP, RP2, IR2 and ‘O’; one oblique vein ‘O’ five cells (4.8 mm) distal of base of RP2; RP2 nearly straight; base of IR1 five cells (5.3 mm) distal of base of RP2; IR1 basally nearly zigzagged and distally curved, more or less parallel to RP1; area between MA and RP3/4 strongly widened distally, seven to 10 rows of cells along posterior wing margin; area between RP3/4 and IR2 with one or two rows of cells basally, distally widened; area between IR2 and RP2 with one row of cells from their bases to level of pterostigma, distally widened, with about four rows of cells; area between RP2 and IR1 progressively widened, with one strong and three weaker intercalary longitudinal veins and about five rows of cells.

Figures

Figure 1. Paragonophlebia inexpectata gen. et sp. nov., holotype PIN 2784/08, drawing of forewing (scale bar represents 3 mm).

Figure 2. Paragonophlebia inexpectata gen. et sp. nov., holotype PIN 2784/08, drawing of hind wing (scale bar represents 3 mm).