Brunellopteron, Béthoux, Deregnaucourt & Norrad, 2021

BØthoux, Olivier, Norrad, Rowan E., Stimson, Matthew R., King, Olivia A., Allen, Luke F., Deregnaucourt, Isabelle, Hinds, Steven J., Lewis, Jake H. & Schneider, Jörg W., 2021, A unique, large-sized stem Odonata (Insecta) found in the early Pennsylvanian of New Brunswick (Canada), Fossil Record 24 (2), pp. 207-221 : 215

Brunellopteron BØthoux, Deregnaucourt and Norrad gen. nov.

( urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1627CA27-D582-441E-87AA-4F8FA71E354E )

Type species

Brunellopteron norradi BØthoux, Deregnaucourt and Norrad sp. nov.

Gender

Masculine.

Etymology

The genus name honours Paul-Michael Brunelle (1952– 2020), an odonatologist who contributed greatly to our knowledge on odonate biodiversity in the Atlantic Canadian region (see McAlpine, 2020).

Diagnosis

By monotypy, as for the type species.

Discussion

Based on delimitations given by Bechly et al. (2001) the type species of the new genus can be assigned to the taxon Neodonatoptera. Within this taxon, the lack of an archaedictyon, one of the proposed apomorphies of the taxon Euodonatoptera and present in the new material, would require a reappraisal. Notably, (i) the lack of an archaedictyon is regarded as homoplastic, and (ii) the occurrence of an archaedictyon among stem Odonata , in particular in Erasipteron larischi , is not evident. Moreover, according to Bechly et al. (2001), the monophyly of the taxon regarded as a sister group of Euodonatoptera, namely Eomeganisoptera (including the Erasipteridae ), remains to be verified. The length of ScP has also been regarded as a relevant character by Bechly et al. (2001), but (i) it is possibly homoplastic and (ii) it is difficult to evaluate in the available material of the type species of the new genus. Considering that all Euodonatoptera conform to one of the conditions represented in Fig. 5e and g , and that the type species of the new genus does not (it conforms to the condition represented in Fig. 5c ), we propose to exclude the new genus from this taxon.

Figures

Figure 5. Transformation series of the relation between MP (red), the cubital system (green) and AA (orange) in early stem Odonata: (a, c, e, g) schemes and (b, d, f) transformations allowing transition from one scheme to another; (a) condition in Eugeropteron lunatum Riek in Riek and KukalovAE-Peck (1984), considered as ground plan; (b) transformation from (a) to (c), MP and CuA fuse, CuA and CuP fuse (after they had first diverged), and CuP and AA fuse; (c) condition in Erasipteron larischi Pruvost, 1933, Brunellopteron norradi BØthoux, Deregnaucourt and Norrad gen. et sp. nov. (darkgreen-filled arrow indicates the basal free portion of CuA, basal to its fusion with MP; dark-green-bordered arrow indicates the median free portion of CuA; light-green-bordered arrow indicates the basal free portion of CuP; light-green-filled arrow indicates the median free portion of CuP); (d) transformation from (c) to (e), the point of fusion of MP and CuA reaches the point where CuA and CuP diverge, with the consequence that CuA has no basal free portion (dark-green-filled arrow in c); (e) condition in Namurotypus sippeli Brauckmann and Zessin, 1989; (f) transformation from (e) to (g), the point of fusion of MP with the cubital system is relocated further basally, and the fusion of AA and CuP continues beyond the point where CuA and CuP fuse, with the consequence that CuP has no median free portion; (g) condition in Meganeura-like species.