Allopteroneura Lu, Zhang & Liu, 2019

Lu, Xiumei, Hu, Jiahui, Wang, Bo, Zhang, Weiwei, Ohl, Michael & Liu, Xingyue, 2019, New antlions (Insecta: Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) from the mid-Cretaceous of Myanmar and their phylogenetic implications, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 17 (14), pp. 1215-1232 : 1217

Genus Allopteroneura Lu, Zhang & Liu gen. nov.

Type species. Allopteroneura burmana Lu, Zhang & Liu sp. nov.

Diagnosis. The new genus is characterized by the following combination of characters: (1) forewing elongated, leaf-like with acuminated apex (shared with Cratoneura , Cratoalloneura and Phylloleon gen. nov.; forewing relatively broader with rounded apical margin in other araripeneurine genera); (2) forewing costal space remarkably widened medially (shared with Phylloleon gen. nov.; feebly and gradually widened in other araripeneurine genera); (3) elongate infra radial cell (shared with Araripeneura , Caririneura , Cratoneura , Cratoalloneura ; short in other araripeneurine genera); (4) MA diverging from RP greatly distad basal radial cell, with seven radial crossveins present before origin of MA from RP þ MA (shared with Cratoneura and Caldasia , but with 5–10 radial crossveins in the former genus and over 10 in the latter genus; at or near basal radial cell in the other Araripeneurinae genera, with less than five crossveins); (5) forewing MP 2 þ CuA branches distinctly zig-zagged, with many curving crossveins between stem and branches of MP 2 þ CuA (straight and lacking aforementioned curving crossveins in other araripeneurine genera).

Etymology. From allos (Greek, meaning ‘different’), pteros (Greek, meaning ‘wing’) and neuron (Greek, meaning ‘nerve’, being as a frequent suffix of the genus-group name of Neuroptera ). The name is an allusion to the abnormal wing shape of the species included in the genus. Gender feminine.

Remarks. The new genus belongs to Araripeneurinae sensu lato based on the distally dilated antennae, the presence of elongate hypostigmal cell, and the absence of forewing presectorial crossveins. Furthermore, the new genus is placed in the tribe Cratoalloneurini owing to the morphological similarity to Cratoneura Martins-Neto and Cratoalloneura Martins-Neto ( Martins-Neto & Vulcano 1989a; Martins-Neto 1992a, 1994), and these genera share the leaf-like wings and many wing venational characters according to the phylogenetic analysis. However, Allopteroneura gen. nov. can be distinguished from Cratoalloneura by the origin of forewing MA from RP þ MA distantly apart from the basal radial cell. The new genus also differs from Cratoneura longissima , which is the type species of Cratoneura , by the zig-zagged forewing MP 2 þ CuA branches and relatively long forewing CuP.

It is noteworthy that three species of Cratoneura (i.e. C. dividens , C. minor and C. pulchella ) are distinguished from C. longissima by having the zig-zagged forewing CuA branches and the relatively long forewing CuP (see Martins-Neto 1997, fig. 3A), both characters shared by Allopteroneura gen. nov. Therefore, these three Cratoneura species from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil may belong to Allopteroneura gen. nov. or be separated from C. longissima as a distinct genus.