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| Palaeoneurorthus baii Du, Niu & Bao, 2022 Illustration: Bai Bingyang |
Abstract
Neuropterans seem to be less specious among holometabolans, while they are in fact the relicts of a diverse group from the Mesozoic era. Their early radiation resulted in great family level morphological heterogeneity of extant neuropterans, especially of their larvae. The earliest previously reported fossil larvae of this group were from the Early Cretaceous, where they already showed high taxonomic diversity and an extremely wide range of variations in morphotypes. In this work, the earliest record of the larva of the neuropteran Palaeoneurorthus baii gen. et sp. nov. from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou Beds of China is described. The larvae, which have large and elongated bodies, straight stylets with curved apices, an extremely elongated cervix and an extended anterior lobe of pronotum, are placed in Nevrorthidae. The elongated cervix is probably a specialized adaptation for hunting small organisms. The palaeoenvironment of these larvae indicates that larvae of Nevrorthidae have exhibited stable aquatic ecology since the Middle Jurassic, and underwent a possible shift from lakes to more lotic yet constricted modern mountain rivulet habitats over time.
Keywords: palaeoecology, Nevrorthidae, Neuroptera, Daohugou biota, Jurassic, palaeoentomology
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| Holotype of Palaeoneurorthus baii gen. et sp. nov., larva (YLSNHM01098) from the Daohugou Beds, Ningcheng County, China. (a) Photograph of the complete body (dry), (b) drawing of the complete body, (c) photograph of head and anterior half of cervix (in alcohol), (d) colour marked version of head and cervix. a1–a9, abdominal element 1–9, cs, coronal suture, cv, cervix, fe, femur, fs, frontal suture, md, mandible, ms, mesothorax, mt, metathorax, mxst, maxillary stylet, P2, setae on the posterior parietal region (tentatively homologized setae, ...), pl, palpus labialis, pt, prothorax, S3, ventrolateral setae on the rounded temples, tar, tarsus, te, trunk end, ti, tibia, tr, trochanter. Scale bars = 10 mm (a, a1), 2 mm (b, b1). 178 × 164 mm (300 × 300 DPI). |
Systematic palaeontology
Insecta Linnaeus, 1758
Neuroptera Linnaeus, 1758
Osmyloidea Panfilov, 1980
Nevrorthidae Nakahara, 1915
Palaeoneurorthus gen. nov.
Etymology: the generic name consists of Latin ‘palaeo-’ which indicates the antiquity of this taxon, and ‘Neurorthus’, the type genus of Nevrorthidae.
Type locality: Daohugou Village, Ningcheng County, NE China.
Horizon and age: Jiulongshan Formation, upper Middle Jurassic.
Repository: Holotype: Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum, China. Paratype: Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, China Academy of Sciences.
Palaeoneurorthus baii sp. nov.
Diagnosis: i) large body size, ii) rostrum not developed, iii) cervix extremely elongated, twice the length of the head capsule, narrower than the head capsule and prothorax.
Etymology: the specific name is dedicated to Bai Bingyang, who provided the holotype for research.
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| Ecological reconstruction of Palaeoneurorthus baii gen. et sp. nov. (by Bai Bingyang). |
Xuheng Du, Kecheng Niu and Tong Bao. 2022. Giant Jurassic Dragon Lacewing Larvae with Lacustrine Palaeoecology represent the Oldest Fossil Rrecord of Larval Neuropterans. Proc. R. Soc. B. 290: 20222500. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2500
