The First Record of Lacewings (Insecta: Neuroptera: Mesochrysopidae) from the Lower Cretaceous of South Korea
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First Record of Lacewings (Insecta: Neuroptera: Mesochrysopidae) from the Lower Cretaceous of South Korea A. V. Khramova, * and G. S. Namb aBorissiak
Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia National University of Education, Gongju, Republic of Korea *e-mail: [email protected]
bGongju
Received December 22, 2019; revised January 9, 2020; accepted January 9, 2020
Abstract—Tachinymphes koraiensis sp. nov., a new member of the family Mesochrysopidae (Neuroptera), is described from the Lower Cretaceous Jinju Formation (South Korea), constituting the first record of fossil lacewings from the Korean Peninsula. The evolutionary history of Mesochrysopidae is discussed, and myrmeleontoid-like modifications of wing venation associated with improved flying ability are suggested as a possible explanation for the extensive radiation of this family during the Early Cretaceous. A preliminary overview of aquatic and terrestrial insects collected from the Jinju Formation with approximate estimates of the relative abundance of different insect orders is provided. Keywords: fossil insects, Neuroptera, Mesochrysopidae, Lower Cretaceous, Jinju Formation DOI: 10.1134/S003103012005007X
Mesochrysopids are among the most impressive and easily recognizable Mesozoic lacewings. The mesochrysopid species Mesotermes heros (Hagen, 1862) from the Upper Jurassic Solenhofen limestones was among the first fossil lacewings to be described, even though originally misidentified as a termite (Hagen, 1862). The earliest mesochrysopids were found in the lower Jurassic of Luxembourg (Nel and Henrotay, 1994), and the youngest record of this extinct family is from the Cretaceous Burmese amber (Liu et al., 2016). Mesochrysopids are usually regarded as close relatives of green lacewings (Chrysopidae) (Nel et al., 2005; Makarkin and Menon, 2005), but mesochrysopid wing venation is organized according to the myrmeleontoid pattern, which is especially prominent in Cretaceous taxa. A “triangle” formed by closely aligned or fused MP and CuA veins is present in forewings of typical mesochrysopids, as in spoonwings (Nemopteridae), antlions (Myrmeleontidae), and owlflies (Ascalaphidae). In contrast to myrmeleontoids, which have a free MP1, both MP branches in mesochrysopids are a part of the “triangle” described above. In addition, series of crossveins arranged in a single line, which are very similar to Banksian lines (longitudinal folds) in the wings of antlions, are found in many mesochrysopids. It is not surprising that some mesochrysopids were assigned to myrmeleontoids (Ponomarenko, 1992; see also Engel and Grimaldi, 2007, where the mesochrysopid Mesascalaphus yangi Ren et al., 2007 is included
in the list of fossil ascalaphids), although the similarity of venation is apparently a result of convergent evolution. It is worth noting that the Jurassic genera Protoaristenymphes Nel et Henrotay, 1994, Macronympha Panfilov, 1980, and Aristenymphes Panfilov, 1980, which are regarded as the earliest representatives of mesochrysopids (Ya
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