A New Mantispid‐Like Species of Rhachiberothinae (Neuroptera: Berothidae) from Baltic Amber, with a Critical Review of the Fossil Record of the Subfamily

Abstract

Whalfera wiszniewskii sp. nov. is described from the Late Eocene Baltic amber. The genus Whalfera is considered as the only fossil genus confidently assigned to the Rhachiberothinae. Others previously placed in this subfamily belong to Paraberothinae (except perhaps for Oisea). The Late Eocene/present Rhachiberothinae and the Cretaceous Paraberothinae are considered to be the subfamilies of Berothidae.

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“…All species of the berothid subfamilies Rhachiberothinae and Paraberothinae and at least one species of Mesithoninae have raptorial forelegs. The Mesithoninae occur in the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (Panfilov 1980;Ren & Guo 1996;Makarkin 1999) and the Paraberothinae only in the Cretaceous (see a review of Makarkin & Kupryjanowicz 2010;Petrulevicius et al 2010). The reported fossil record of the Rhachiberothinae is restricted to the Cenozoic (Whalley 1983;Makarkin & Kupryjanowicz 2010).…”

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“…According to the illustration in Nel et al (2005), no spine-like setae can be observed on the inner edge of the foreleg tibia of Chimerhachiberotha acrasarii Nel et al, 2005, so as Whalfera wiszniewskii Makarkin and Kupryjanowicz, 2010, which, though, was not listed as a Paraberothinae without any reason. Consequently, this character should not be included in the diagnosis for the subfamily.…”

“…However, as Makarkin and Kupryjanowicz (2010) have shown, there is a large amount of variation of the postocular lobe within Berothidae and even in Mantispidae.…”

“…In his comment, Makarkin, listed the diagnostic characters of Paraberothinae following Nel et al (2005) and Makarkin and Kupryjanowicz (2010): (1) small berothids (forewing 2.9e4.0 mm long); (2) postocular lobe reduced; (3) scapus long to very long (up to 10 times longer than pedicel); (4) forelegs raptorial; (5) tarsus of male 5-segmented; (6) tibia with numerous spine-like setae on inner edge; (7) Sc and R1 fused distally in both wings; (8) intermediate subcostal crossveins 2sc-r1 absent in the forewing; and (9) CuP present in the hind wing.…”

“…Character (6): According to Makarkin's comment, the presence of spine-like setae on the inner ('ventral') edge of the foreleg tibia is considered a synapomorphy of Paraberothinae (Nel et al, 2005;Makarkin and Kupryjanowicz, 2010). According to the illustration in Nel et al (2005), no spine-like setae can be observed on the inner edge of the foreleg tibia of Chimerhachiberotha acrasarii Nel et al, 2005, so as Whalfera wiszniewskii Makarkin and Kupryjanowicz, 2010, which, though, was not listed as a Paraberothinae without any reason.…”