A new Cretaceous family of enigmatic two-winged lacewings (Neuroptera)

Insects of the order Neuroptera usually bear four welldeveloped wings. However, there are a few brachypterous, micropterous or apterous species, found in several extant families (see a short review below). Grimaldi (2000) described the enigmatic fossil neuropteran genus Mantispidiptera Grimaldi and its two minute species M. enigmatica Grimaldi and M. henryi Grimaldi (forewings 2.63–3.12 mm long) from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian) amber of New Jersey (USA). This genus is noteworthy for its specialized forewing venation and hind wings reduced to small structures resembling the halteres of Diptera. He (and subsequent authors) associated it with the family Mantispidae, due to the presence of raptorial forelegs and forewing venation, which distantly resembles that of the mantispid subfamily Symphrasinae (Grimaldi 2000; Grimaldi & Engel 2005; Asp ck & Asp ck 2007; Engel & Grimaldi 2007). However, Wedmann and Makarkin (2007, p. 709) stated the opinion that “the systematic position of this enigmatic genus remains unclear, but it most probably does not belong to Mantispidae”, by its lack of significant mantispid synapomorphies. Engel & Grimaldi (2008, p. 86) reinstated the genus within the family, explaining that it is “highly autapomorphic, with several apomorphies likely the result of miniaturization.” In this paper, we describe a new genus from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of north-eastern China, which resembles Mantispidiptera but is much larger, yet its forewing venation is even further reduced. The reduced venation in this larger genus supports the suspicion of Wedmann and Makarkin (2007) that these character states are not explained by minute size, and that its character states that resemble those of the Mantispidae likely only superficially do so, and constitute insufficient reason to place it in that family. These genera are clearly closely related, together forming a supergeneric taxon, which we herein describe as the new family Dipteromantispidae n. fam., and discuss its relationship within the Neuroptera. We presume that they were active fliers.