Kujiberotha teruyukii, Nakamine, Hiroshi & amamoto, Shuhei, 2018

Nakamine, Hiroshi & amamoto, Shuhei, 2018, A new genus and species of thorny lacewing from Upper Cretaceous Kuji amber, northeastern Japan (Neuroptera, Rhachiberothidae), ZooKeys 802, pp. 109-120 : 109

Kujiberotha teruyukii sp. n. Figs 2, 3, 4

Material.

Holotype, incomplete specimen of adult, sex undetermined, deposited in the Kuji Amber Museum, Kuji City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. This specimen is visible only in lateral view and many of the body parts are originally lost or difficult to observe.

Locality and horizon.

Kuji amber from the Kokujicho, Kuji City, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan; Tamagawa Formation of the Kuji Group, middle Santonian (ca. 85.9 Ma; see Arimoto et al. 2018), Upper Cretaceous.

Etymology.

This remarkable mantispid-like insect is named in honor of the celebrated kabuki actor Mr. Teruyuki Kagawa. He is known for his love of mantises and is enormously popular with insect-loving children in Japan.

Diagnosis.

As for the genus (vide supra).

Description.

Head entirely not clearly visible due to numerous cracks. Compound eyes partially visible. Antennae (Fig. 3A, B) moniliform, flagellum relatively long, composed of at least 50 flagellomeres, covered with fine setae on each segment. Pronotum elongate, visible only left lateral side, ca. 1.1 mm in length, with scattered setae on dorsal surface. Meso- and metathorax not visible. Foreleg (Fig. 3C, D) well preserved. Procoxa very long at least 1.7 mm, not broadened. Protrochanter elongate, slightly curved. Profemur exceedingly long ca. 1.9 mm, slightly broadened, dense fine setae on surface, several long spines and numerous short spines on ventral edge, only slightly curved towards distal. Protibia markedly long ca. 1.7 mm, slender, covered with dense fine setae becoming slightly longer towards distal on dorsal edge, six short spines visible bent towards distal on ventral edge. Protarsus partly preserved, probasitarsus elongate, dense fine setae on surface, with nine small spine-like setae on external ventral ridge (Fig. 3E) and single long curved spine distally. Other tarsomeres not well preserved. Mid- and hindlegs partly visible, slender, covered dense setae. Abdomen uniformly lost. Wings poorly preserved (Fig. 4), with dense fine setae on veins.

Remarks.

The profemur of Kujiberotha teruyukii gen. et sp. n. is the longest among the Paraberothinae fossils found to date. The length of the profemur in this subfamily ranges from ca. 0.5 mm in Spinoberotha mickaelacrai Nel et al., 2005 to ca. 1.14 mm in Raptorapax terribilissima Petrulevičius et al., 2010. Meanwhile, that of K. teruyukii is notably longer, ca. 1.9 mm.