Calisius balticus, previously known from the Middle-Late Eocene Baltic amber, is recorded for the first time in the Lowermost Eocene French amber. It is the second case of an insect species present in both these two ambers, representing a morphological stasis of ca. 10 Ma. It is the oldest record of the genus Calisius. Aradus andancensis n. sp. in Upper Miocene sedimentary deposit from France is also described.
The Miocene Odonata are rather well documented in France, thanks to many discoveries in the ‘Massif Central’ outcrops of Sainte Reine (latest Miocene, Cantal) and Montagne d’Andance (late Miocene, Ardèche) (Nel et al., 1994, 1996, 1997a,b; Riou & Nel, 1995). Among these, the family Aeshnidae is well-represented by the genera Aeshna Fabricius, 1775, Boyeria MacLachlan, 1896, and Aeschnophlebia Selys, 1883. Thus, it is with great surprise that one of us has found a new well-preserved specimen in the outcrop of Montagne d’Andance, representing a new species that we describe herein.
Nemopteridae are a small family of myrmeleontoid lacewings characterized by elongated ribbon- or thread-like hindwings. Extant Nemopteridae comprise two subfamilies, viz. Crocinae (thread-wings) and Nemopterinae (spoon- and ribbon-wings). They are distributed in all zoogeographical regions except the Nearctic region in the extant fauna. However, the major species diversity of Nemopteridae is confined to the southern part of Africa. The fossil record of the family is scarce, with five Lower Cretaceous fossils, one from the lowermost Cenomanian, two fossils from the Upper Eocene, and two from the Oligocene (Lu et al., 2019; Nel & Jarzembowski, 2019). Here we describe a new, nearly complete fossil from the Oligocene of Lubéron in France. It was found in the Konservat Lagerstätte of Céreste, in finely laminated lacustrine limestones. It is the only specimen of this family found in this outcrop, among more than 30000 fossil insects. Neuroptera are extremely rare in this outcrop; only one adult Ascalaphidae (Ascaloptynx oligocenicus Nel, 1991) and two Mantispidae (Prosagittalata oligocenica Nel, 1988 and an undescribed specimen) have been discovered there (Nel, 1988, 1991).
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