Mantispa? damzenogedanica, Baranov & Pérez-de la Fuente & Engel & Hammel & Kiesmüller & Hörnig & Pazinato & Stahlecker & Haug & Haug, 2022

Baranov, Viktor, Perez-de la Fuente, Ricardo, Engel, Michael S., Hammel, Joerg U., Kiesmueller, Christine, Hoernig, Marie K., Pazinato, Paula G., Stahlecker, Corleone, Haug, Carolin & Haug, Joachim T., 2022, The first adult mantis lacewing from Baltic amber, with an evaluation of the post-Cretaceous loss of morphological diversity of raptorial appendages in Mantispidae, Fossil Record 25 (1), pp. 11-24 : 11

Mantispa? damzenogedanica sp. nov.

Figs 1 , 2 , 3 , 4

Derivatio nominis.

The specific epithet is a combination of ‘Damzen’, honouring Mr. Jonas Damzen (Vilnius), who found, prepared, and made the specimen available, and ‘gedanicum’, relative to Gedania, one of the Latin names for Gdańsk (Poland), where the specimen will be housed permanently.

Holotype.

MG/B/1172, Museum of Gdańsk ( Gdańsk, Poland). The specimen is well preserved, albeit missing distal parts of some appendages and heavily covered by white foam (= ‘Verlumung’), particularly thick on the posterior part of the body, namely the abdomen. A single spider and six non-biting midges ( Diptera : Chironomidae : Chironominae : Tanytarsini ) are present as syninclusions.

Type locality and age.

Baltic amber from Yantarny mine in Yantarny, Kaliningrad (formerly Palmnicken, Königsberg), Russia; Eocene (late Bartonian-earliest Priabonian). The precise extraction location within the Yantarny mine remains unknown.

ZooBank.

In accordance with the ICZN, the specific epithet is registered in ZooBank (www.zoobank.org) under the following LSID: 8C79CEEC-9800-4EB3-9665-B6FE756F83FF.

Diagnosis.

The new specimen can be distinguished from all extant and fossil mantis lacewing representatives based on the following combination of characters: Head moderately wider than long; antennae relatively short, with flagellomeres compact and slightly wider than long in profile, last flagellomere gradually tapering distally; distal third of antennae seemingly with a pale band; occiput, pronotum and mesothorax bearing short, stout, erect setae, at least those from the occiput and pronotum not confined to raised bases; pronotum about 4.6 × times longer than wide posteriorly, lacking abrupt constrictions throughout, apparently smooth; forewing with pterostigma well sclerotized, elongate, bearing sparse macrosetae along its entire length, distally ending at the midlength of cell 3r, proximal end tapered; forewing lacking supernumerary radial crossveins, with cell 4r small, proximally closed by a brief 3ra-rp crossvein; profemur with major integumentary process ( ‘spine’) smooth, length 0.52 × the profemoral length, with ten smaller processes.

Description.

Sex unknown. Winged lacewing, total length 13.7 mm as preserved. Head. Broad, short, moderately wider than long, 1.5 mm wide, 0.9 mm long, roughly triangular in anterior view. Ocular segment recognizable by large, ovoid compound eyes, 0.97 mm in diameter, prominent yet not particularly abutting, and trapezoid labrum, about 0.30 mm long. Posterior region of head capsule (occiput) with short, stout, erect setae visible through Verlumung, apparently not confined to raised bases. Antenna long (about 1.9 mm), with at least 22 articles (scapus, pedicellus, flagellomeres); distal third of antennae seemingly with a pale band. Flagellomeres rectangular in profile, slightly wider than long, compact, not significantly expanding in width distally. Mandibles 0.32 mm long. No further details accessible. Maxillae elongate, with proximal part, stipes (with two endites, galea and stipes), and distal part, palp, visible. Lacinia elongate, with eight strong distal teeth, 0.40 mm long. Galea about 0.14 mm long. Maxillary palp arising latero-distally from stipes, cylindrical, with three visible palpomeres. Total length of the palpomeres 0.50 mm long.

Labium oval in general shape. Details challenging to discern due to partial concealing by structures of thorax.

Thorax. Prothorax elongate, with pronotum tubular (fully fused ventrally), cylindrical, slightly decreasing in diameter distally, then expanding from its distal 2/3 onwards, 3 × longer than wide (maximum width), 3.2 mm long, 1.1 mm wide basally, 0.6 mm wide medially, 0.8 mm wide distally. Prothorax densely covered with microtrochia, with smooth dorsal surface. Maculae (i.e., paired anteriodorsal areas of the pronotum distinctive in colour and/or shape, if apparent) with inconspicuous acute cusps. Pronotum very elongate, about 4.6 × longer than wide posteriorly, lacking transversal ridges or corrugations (exact texture unknown due to Verlumung covering); pronotal prozone gently raised in lateral view, anterior edge with two lateral rounded invaginations and a median, rather acute protrusion in dorsal view. Pronotum with short, stout, erect setae visible through Verlumung, not confined to raised bases. Prothorax bearing a pair of prominent appendages in far anterior position, i.e., the raptorial forelegs (only one preserved more completely). Coxa 3.40 mm long; trochanter, ca. 0.60 mm long; femur prominent, 3.30 mm long; tibia 2.48 mm long; tarsus 0.25 mm long; pretarsus not visible. Femur compressed, with prominent integumentary processes ( ‘spines’) originating medially; most prominent ‘spine’ submedial in position, located at 0.85 mm from proximal edge; at least ten additional, less-developed ‘spines’ present; exact armature hard to discern due to Verlumung. Stitz organs (terminal, sensory chitinous cones on integumentary processes) not discernible. Combined length of tibia and tarsus much shorter than that of femur. Tarsus composed of five tarsomeres. Tarsomere 1 not distally extended, longer than remaining tarsomeres. Pretarsal claw not visible; possible arolium not discernible.

Mesothorax trapezoid in dorsal view, 0.80 mm long. Dorsal surface with several setae visible through Verlumung. Femur 2.20 mm long; tibia 1.70 mm long; basitarsus 2.20 mm long; pretarsal claws simple.

Forewing 9.9 mm long, 2.7 mm wide, relatively narrow in shape; membrane apparently hyaline, with no visible infuscations (i.e., darkened areas) other than that of the pterostigma. Venation dark in colour; trichosors (i.e., veinlet-like structures between proper wing veins present at the wing margin, often highly setose) absent along all costal margin; all veins sparsely setose, with R bearing particularly long setae; humeral vein not visible; five costal veinlets present; Sc apparently meeting C half the length of 1rp cell; no sc-r or sc-ra crossveins visible, if present; pterostigma well-sclerotised, apparently tapered basally, gently expanding distally, bearing sparse setae, beginning distally of 1ra-rp crossvein, ending midway of cell 3r; distal edge of pterostigma sub-perpendicular to costal margin (not markedly oblique/subparallel); space between C and RA relatively broad throughout; radial triangle distinct, relatively small; four radial cells (1r-4r) between RA and main branch of RP, the distalmost (4r) distinctly small, subtrapezoid, closed proximally by a very brief 3ra-rp crossvein; RP with five posterior branches; media simple, reaching wing margin right below cell 1r; CuA and CuP simple, forking not visible (blocked by a bubble), but likely proximal to radial triangle; cup-a1 crossvein not visible (blocked by a bubble); all anal veins simple, A1 concave; A2 sinuous, A3 slightly convex, these two fused proximally with a thick common stem; a1-a2 crossvein not visible.

Metathorax difficult to observe both on optical and 3d images. Femur 1.80 mm long; tibia 2.30 mm long; basitarsus 3.50 mm long, further distal tarsomeres not preserved. Hind wings almost entirely covered by the forewings and hence venation not discernible.

Abdomen. Abdomen largely concealed by Verlumung. Individual segments not discernible. Tergites appear simple, not keeled. Genitalia not visible.

Figures

Figure 1. Mantispa? Mantispa damzenogedanica sp. nov., holotype MG / B / 1172. A. Photograph of the habitus in lateral view; A 1. Mesothorax with stout setae visible through the Verlumung, enlarged (arrows); B. Drawing of the right forewing. Abbreviations (mostly veins): 1 - 4 r = radial cells; A = anal; CuA = cubitus anterior; CuP = cubitus posterior; C = costa; MA, media anterior; MP, media posterior; pt = pterostigma; RA = radius anterior; RP = radius posterior; Sc = subcosta.

Figure 2. Mantispa? Mantispa damzenogedanica sp. nov., holotype MG / B / 1172, all volume renderings based on SRµCT. A. Habitus in lateral view; B. Head and thorax in dorsal view; C. Head and anterior pronotum in lateral view; D. Left raptorial foreleg in lateral view; E. Detail of the former. Abbreviations: an = antenna; cx = coxa; fe = femur; pt = prothorax; pt 1 - 5 = tarsomeres 1 - 5; ta = protarsus; sb = submedial ' spine'.

Figure 3. Mantispa? Mantispa damzenogedanica sp. nov., holotype MG / B / 1172. A. Photograph of the head and anterior pronotum in lateral view; B. Same, tagged and colour-marked; C. Head in ventral view, volume rendering based on SRµCT, showing visible mouthparts; D. Detail of the anterior pronotum in lateral view; note the stout setae (arrows). Abbreviations: an = antenna; ey = eyes; lb = labrum; md = mandible; mp = maxillary palp; mx = maxilla, proximal part; pt = prothorax.

Figure 4. Mantispa? Mantispa damzenogedanica sp. nov., holotype MG / B / 1172, volume renderings based on SRµCT. A. Pronotum, dorso-oblique view; B. Pronotum, lateral view.