Sinonemoptera sinica ( Yang, 1986 ), 2025

Zheng, Yuchen & Liu, Xingyue, 2025, A mysterious treasure originated from Africa: evolutionary history of the endangered spoon-winged lacewings (Neuroptera: Nemopteridae: Nemopterinae) from China, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 203, pp. 1-23 : 7-8

Sinonemoptera sinica ( Yang, 1986) comb. nov.

( Figs 1A , 2A, C, E, F , 3A–D , 4A–E , 5f, k , 6C, D, I , 9 , 10F ; Supporting Information, Fig. S1 )

Nemopistha sinica Yang 1986: 428 (type locality: CHINA: Yunnan, Nujiang, Lushui, Manyun agricultural science station; holotype in CAU); Yang 1987: 521; Zhou and Zhu 1992: 109 (female record); Yang 1999: 114; Ábrahám 2014: 182; Wang et al. 2018: 204; Yang et al. 2018: 61.

Diagnosis: Vertex dark brown, frons and rostrum pale brown; antenna three-quarters of length of forewing; rostrum nearly as long as head width. Pronotum laterally with some long setae. Mesoprescutum generally dark brown, lateral margin with some black setae; mesonotum mostly dark brown; mesoscutellum pale brown on posterior margin, with some coniform setae; metanotum medially pale brown and laterally dark brown. Hindwing medially with a dark brown marking; distal part slightly dilated, concave on fused point of Sc and RA, with a dark brown marking, dilated part with subcostal and radial space dark brown. Male tergum 8 elongate in lateral view; sternum 9 distally black. Male posterior gonocoxites 9 distally sclerotized in lateral view, relatively slender in caudal view; gonostyli 11 subtriangular in dorsal view; gonapophyses 11 truncate on posterior margin.

Redescription

Size: Head width, 1.82–1.93 mm; forewing length, 26.01– 26.53 mm; hindwing length, 58.12–60.03 mm.

Head: Vertex slightly raised, dark brown. Antenna three-quarters of length of forewing; scape and pedicel ventrally pale brown, dorsally dark brown; flagellomeres each generally dark brown, distally pale brown. Frons pale brown; anterior tentorial pit dark brown. Gena length nearly two-thirds of head width. Clypeus pale brown. Labrum pale brown to brown, distal margin truncate. Cardo pale brown, with some short setae. Stipe pale brown, distally with some long black setae. Maxillary palpus pale brown on palpomere 1, other palpomeres dark; labial palpus generally dark. Mandibles pale brown, elongate. Rostrum nearly as long as head width ( Fig. 2A, C ).

Thorax: Pronotum twice as long as wide, laterally with some long black setae; mostly dark brown, medially and laterally pale brown. Mesoprescutum generally dark brown, lateral margin with many black setae, other part with many short coniform setae; mesonotum mostly dark brown; mesoscutellum mostly dark brown, posterior margin pale brown. Metanotum bald, medially pale brown and laterally dark brown ( Fig. 2C ). Meso- and metapleurae generally pale brown. Ventral part of thorax with some short, pale brown setae.

Legs: Slender, pale brown. Coxa with a dark brown marking; femur and tibia each with a pair of longitudinal dark brown stripes; tibial spurs short coniform; tarsomeres 2–4 with some stout setae ventrally; claws dark brown, slightly curved.

Wings: Forewing mostly hyaline, apex rounded. Pterostigma pale. Costal crossveins not forked; basal costal crossveins suffused with dark markings; subcostal area pale yellow; 15–16 presectoral crossveins present; RP with six to seven branches; basal five mediocubital crossveins each suffuses with a brown marking; first cup-a1 crossvein suffused with a marking ( Figs 1A , 2E ; Supporting Information, Fig. S1 ). Hindwing slender, nearly three times as long as forewing; basally generally hyaline; basal c-sc and m-av crossveins each suffused with a brown marking; medially with a dark brown marking; pterostigma distinct, pale; distal part slightly dilated, concave near fusion of Sc and RA, with a dark brown marking; dilated part with subcostal and radial space dark brown; apical part hyaline ( Figs 1A , 2F , 7I ; Supporting Information, Fig. S1 ).

Abdomen: Dark brown; long, nearly twice as long as head plus thorax; male abdominal segments 3–8 each distally pale brown, longer than two-thirds width.

Male genitalia: Tergum 8 elongate in lateral view; sternum 9 bifurcated on distal half and with slender setae, distally black; subtriangular in lateral view ( Fig. 3C, D ). Anterior gonocoxites 9 slender, slightly curved in lateral view; posterior gonocoxites 9 widely falcate, distally sclerotized in lateral view, slender and distally rounded in caudal view. Gonocoxites 11 widely arched, medially with a small process between gonostyli 11; anterior membranous part of gonocoxites 11 with some long setae; gonostyli 11 shaped as a pair of upcurved short processes, subtriangular in dorsal view. Gonapophyses 11 nearly rectangular, posterior margin truncate in cephalic view; lateral membranous part of gonapophyses 11 with some long setae ( Fig. 4A–E ). Ectoproct subtriangular in lateral view, distal margin rounded, with some long setae ( Fig. 3A ).

Female genitalia: Gonocoxites 9 with many short setae, rounded in lateral view. Ectoproct semicircular in lateral view, distal margin rounded, with some short setae ( Zhou and Zhu 1992).

Type material: Holotype ♂ [terminalia lost], CHINA: Yunnan, Nujiang, Lushui, Manyun agricultural science station , 880 m, 27 April 1980 ( CAU).

Additional material examined: Two ♂, CHINA: Yunnan, Baoshan, Longyang District, Mangkuan Township , 750 m, 15 May 2021 ( CAU) .

Distribution: China (Yunnan).

Figures

Figure 1. Habitus of Sinonemoptera. A, Sinonemoptera sinica; B, Sinonemoptera tibetana.

Figure 2. Head, thorax, and wings of Sinonemoptera. A, Sinonemoptera sinica, head, frontal view.B, Sinonemoptera tibetana, head, frontal view. C, Sin. sinica, head and thorax, dorsal view. D, Sin. tibetana, head and thorax, dorsal view. E, Sin. sinica, forewing.F, Sin. sinica, apex of hindwing. G, Sin. tibetana, forewing. H, Sin. tibetana, apex of hindwing.

Figure 3. Male terminalia of Sinonemoptera. A, Sinonemoptera sinica, lateral view.B, Sin. sinica, caudal view. C, Sin. sinica, ventral view.D, Sin. sinica, dorsal view.E, Sinonemoptera tibetana, lateral view. F, Sin. tibetana, caudal view. G, Sin. tibetana, ventral view. H, Sin. tibetana, dorsal view.

Figure 4. Male genitalia of Sinonemoptera. A, Sinonemoptera sinica, lateral view.B, Sin.sinica, caudal view. C, Sin.sinica, cephalic view.D, Sin. sinica, dorsal view. E, Sin. sinica, ventral view. F, Sinonemoptera tibetana, lateral view. G, Sin. tibetana, caudal view. H, Sin. tibetana, cephalic view. I, Sin. tibetana, dorsal view.J, Sin. tibetana, ventral view.

Figure 5. Phylogeny of Nemopterinae.A, phylogeny based on molecular data, with topology derived from maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI). Numbers at nodes are ML bootstrap values (left) and Bayesian posterior probabilities (right). B, phylogeny based on morphological data, with character state mapped onto the tree.The topology represents the most-parsimonious tree, with nonhomoplasious and homoplasious synapomorphies indicated by black and white circles, respectively.a, Nemia costalis, female; b, Halter nutans, male; c, Chasmoptera huttii, male; d, Lertha palmonii, male; e, Nemoptera coa, male (photograph by Chao Wu); f, Sinonemoptera sinica, male; g, Nemopistha imperatrix, female (photograph by André Prost); h, Afroptera sp., female (photograph by Torsten Dikow); i, Chasmoptera huttii, female (photograph by Shaun L. Winterton); j, Nemoptera coa, female (photograph by Veljo Runnel); k, Sinonemoptera sinica, male (photograph by Yuchen Zheng).

Figure 6.Head characters of Nemopterinae.A, Halter nutans, male, frontal view. B, Sinonemoptera sinica, male, frontal view. C, Lertha palmonii, male, frontal view.D, Lertha palmonii, male, eye. E, Chasmoptera huttii, male, frontal view. F, Barbibucca biremis, female, frontal view.G, Nemia costalis, female, frontal view.Structures are marked with the number of the character and coding of the character state, as in the Supporting Information (Text S1).

Figure 7. Morphological characters of Nemopterinae. A, Nemopistha imperatrix, holotype in NHMUK, forewing (photograph by Benjamin W. Price). B, Nemeura gracilis, female, basal part of forewing (photograph by Jiazhi Zhang). C, Sinonemoptera sinica, male, basal part of forewing. D,Sin.sinica, male abdomen, lateral view.E, Lertha palmonii, male abdomen, lateral view. F, Barbibucca biremis, female abdomen, lateral view. G, Ba. biremis, female, body, lateral view.H, Ba.biremis, female, distal part of hindwing.I, Sin.sinica, male, distal part of hindwing. J, L.palmonii, male, distal part of hindwing. K, Halter nutans, male, distal part of hindwing; L, Nemoptera coa, male, distal part of hindwing. M, Chasmoptera huttii, male, distal part of hindwing.Structures are marked with the number of the character and coding of the character state, as in the Supporting Information (Text S1).

Figure 9. Spatiotemporal diversification of Nemopterinae. A, chronogram based on the phylogeny inferred from integrative data, with estimated divergence times among nemopterine species and reconstructed ancestral areas.B, distribution of world Nemopterinae, with areas of endemism marked by different colours. C–E, diagrammatic model of major historical dispersals in Nemopterinae. Letters on pie charts in A correspond to the letters of areas in B.Dispersal and vicariance events are indicated in A by blue stars and red triangles, respectively.Nodal numbers in A are consistent with those in the Supporting Information (Table S8). Arrows in C–E show estimated dispersals of ancestral nemopterines. Background maps of palaeogeographical composition were acquired from Global Paleogeography and Tectonics in Deep Time© 2016, Colorado Plateau Geosystems Inc.

Figure 10. Species distribution modelling of world Nemopterinae through time and habitats of Sinonemoptera. A, Last Interglacial (LIG). B, Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). C, current period.D, future (2080s). E, living adult of Sinonemoptera tibetana (photograph by Yuchen Zheng). F, living adult of Sinonemoptera sinica (photograph by Chao Wu). G, habitat of Sin. tibetana in Cawarong (Tibet) (photograph by Xingyue Liu). H, habitat of Sin. sinica in Liuku (Yunnan) (photograph by Yuchen Zheng). I, habitat of Sin. sinica in Baoshan (Yunnan) (photograph by Chao Wu). J–L, monsoon evergreen forests in Yunnan between the habitats of Sin. sinica and Sin. tibetana (J, Bingzhongluo; K, Maji; L, Walayaku) (photograph by Yuchen Zheng). M, topographic map of the Nujiang River.Black triangles in C represent known records used to fit the ecological niche model. The blue dashed box in M represents the suitable habitat of Sin. tibetana, and the red dashed box represents the suitable habitat of Sin.sinica.