Probnis sauvanyaensis, Garrouste & Fortuny & Mujal & Bolet & Steyer & Nel, 2025

Garrouste, Romain, Fortuny, Josep, Mujal, Eudald, Bolet, Arnau, Steyer, Jean-Sébastien & Nel, André, 2025, New insects from the Permian of Catalonia (Spain) predate the early diversification of Triassic clades adapted to arid environments (Grylloblattodea, Probnidae, Dictyoptera), Fossil Record 28 (1), pp. 179-186 : 179-186

Probnis sauvanyaensis sp. nov.

Fig. 2

Material.

Holotype IPS 125664 (part and counterpart of a nearly complete forewing), stored at the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain.

Etymology.

Named after the type locality, Sauvanyà.

Age and outcrop.

Guadalupian –? Lopingian, upper Upper Red Unit. Sauvanyà , Catalonia, Spain.

Diagnosis.

A narrow area between RA and RP; base of RP basal of mid-wing level, area covered by CuA 1 rather broad, broader than that of M; CuA 1 branched far from its base; comb of branches of CuA 1 not reaching wing apex.

Description.

Forewing small, 5.7 mm long, 1.1 mm wide; no trace of coloration preserved; area between C and ScP very narrow, 0.2 mm wide; ScP simple, 3.7 mm long, closely parallel to R; R straight, with RP simple, branching at ca. 2.5 mm from wing base, nearly at level of mid-wing, closely parallel to RA; convex RA simple; neutral M basally separated from R and distally from RP, with two long branches; Cu separating into CuA and CuP; CuA basally separated into a straight and simple CuA 2 and a curved and distally straight CuA 1, distally parallel with posterior margin of wing and pectinate into a series of parallel branches, and well separated from M; area between CuA and CuP very narrow; CuP + PCu nearly straight; parallel to CuA 2, reaching level of mid-wing; area between CuP + PCu and posterior wing margin narrow and elongate with one curved anal vein; no crossvein visible.

Remarks.

The shape of the cubito-anal area, ScP and radial vein, and the weak corrugation of the veins indicate that it is a neopteran forewing. Affinities with the Acercaria or the Archaeorthoptera are excluded because of the common stem of CuA with CuP in the new fossil. Affinities with Holometabola are unlikely because of the absence of crossveins in the costal area and of specialized cells in the cubito-anal area. Affinities with the Dictyoptera are excluded because of the nearly straight and weakly concave CuP. The Paoliida would be excluded because the area between CuA and CuP is very narrow and there are no particular anterior branches of CuA. The remaining option is an attribution to the poorly defined group ‘ Grylloblattodea , ’ which means little, as the monophylies of this set of taxa and of the families inside are still not demonstrated.

Within the ‘ Grylloblattodea , ’ the new fossil fits well with the Permian genus Probnis ( Probnidae ), sharing a small and narrow forewing, a simple and long ScP, a narrow costal area, a simple RP closely parallel to RA, a narrow median area, no reticulation in the wing membrane, and a CuA basally separated from M and distally parallel with posterior margin of wing and pectinate into a series of parallel branches. The Tillyardembiidae Zalessky, 1938 , Phenopteridae Carpenter, 1950 , and Aliculidae Storozhenko, 1997 also have a long distal part of CuA parallel to posterior margin of wing but differ from the new fossil in the presence of broader areas between RP, M, and CuA ( Storozhenko 1998). The Protembiidae Tillyard, 1937 ( Protembia Tillyard, 1937 ) also have a distal part of CuA parallel to posterior margin of wing, but it is shorter than in the new fossil, and they have a vein M with more branches ( Carpenter 1950; Storozhenko 1998). Note that Tillyard (1937) also added the genus Telactinopteryx Tillyard, 1937 , in the Probnidae , but Carpenter (1950) put it in synonymy with Protembia .

Probnis speciosa shares with the new fossil a narrow area between RA and RP but differs from the new fossil in the base of RP basad mid-wing level and the narrower area covered by CuA 1, even if this structure is highly variable in P. speciosa (see Tillyard 1937: fig. 1). Probnis fossor has a broader area between RA and RP than in the new fossil, a base of RP in a more basal position than in the new fossil, and a rather broad area covered by CuA 1. The forewings of the Probnis speciosa and P. fossor are longer than that of the new fossil (10 to 14 mm long vs. 5.7 mm) ( Tillyard 1937; Rasnitsyn et al. 2004). The Triassic Triassoprobnis humilis Aristov 2005 has CuA 1 branched more proximally, and the comb of branches of CuA 1 almost reaching the wing apex, unlike in the new fossil and Probnis ( Aristov 2005) .

Figures

Figure 2. Probnis sauvanyaensis sp. nov., holotype IPS 125664. Forewing photographs. A, Part. B, Counterpart. Scale bars: 1 mm.