Spiloconis glaesaria Meinander

Grimaldi, David, Engel, Michael S., Nascimbene, Paul c. & Singh, Hukam, 2013, Coniopterygidae (Neuroptera: Aleuropteryginae) in amber from the Eocene of India and the Miocene of Hispaniola, American Museum Novitates 2013 (3770), pp. 1-20 : 4

Spiloconis glaesaria Meinander

Figures 1A, B ; 2B ; 4A

Spiloconis glaesaria Meinander, 1998: 33 . Engel and Grimaldi, 2007: 19.

DIAGNOSIS: Oral margin in frontal view broad (width 0.7× the distance between compound eyes), much of frontal portion of head membranous/lightly sclerotized, most of it covered with fine setulae; dorsal margin of head barely protruding (cf. Spiloconis oediloma Engel and Grimaldi ); wing with r-rs proximal to fork of R 2+3 –R 4+5 (i.e., r-rs connected to Rs); L/W basal discal cell 3.2; antenna with 21–22 flagellomeres (23–24 antennomeres), size of basal flagellomere nearly equal to that of other flagellomeres.

TYPE AND OTHER MATERIAL: Known only from Dominican amber. Holotype , AMNH DR14-1094 , in clear yellow amber 9 × 4 × 5 mm in size, embedded in EpoTek 301 resin, 12 × 3 × 5 mm. The amber contains many bubbles, and the holotype is best observed ventrally. Meinander (1988) stated that the body of the specimen was covered with “wax” (a fine layer of which indeed coats most modern dustywings), but the fossil is actually covered with a milky froth, a preservational artifact common among inclusions in amber. Another specimen was reported ( AMNH DR14-1094 ) with a photograph, in Engel and Grimaldi (2007). It is a wellpreserved female in a small, clear yellow square of amber, 4 × 4 × 1.5 mm .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Photomicrographs of Aleuropteryginae in amber. A–D: In Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic. A. Spiloconis glaesaria Meinander, holotype, AMNH DR10-59. B. S. glaesaria, AMNH DR14-1094. C. Spiloconis oediloma Engel and Grimaldi, AMNH DR14-1427. D. Neoconis paleocaribis Grimaldi and Engel, new species, holotype, AMNH DR15-29. E–F: Spiloconis eominuta Grimaldi and Engel, new species, in Early Eocene Cambay amber from India; both are males. E. Holotype, BSIP Tad 316D. F. AMNH Tad 316B.

FIGURE 2. Frontal views of head of fossil species of Spiloconis. A–B: Dominican amber; C: Cambay amber. A. Spiloconis oediloma Engel and Grimaldi, AMNH DR15-421. B. S. glaesaria Meinander, holotype, AMNH DR10-59. Dashed line above head approximates dorsal margin. C. S. eominuta Grimaldi and Engel, new species, BSIP Tad 316D (reconstructed, based on right half of head). Note differences in scale between both A and B and C.

FIGURE 4. Forewings of fossil species of Spiloconis in Dominican amber. A. Spiloconis glaesaria Meinander, AMNH DR14-1094, also showing detail of costal setae. B. S. oediloma Engel and Grimaldi, holotype, AMNH DR14-1097. C. S. oediloma, AMNH DR15-421 (slightly reconstructed from fractured specimen). Costal setae omitted in B, C, and in figure 5.