Balticopteryx Chen 2018, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Chen, Zhi-Teng
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Plecoptera
Taeniopterygidae
Balticopteryx

description: Genus Balticopteryx Chen, gen. nov.
Type species. Balticopteryx dui gen. et sp. nov., by monotypy.
Diagnosis. Diagnostic characters of the new genus Balticopteryx include: 1) body size extremely small, about 6.0 mm in length; 2) biocellate, each ocellus small and distant to each other; extremely long antennae, with about 50 segments; 3) wings without characteristic patterns, veins simple; RP, M and CuA of forewing each with two branches; only a single h vein presents in the costal area; 4) coxal gills absent; three tarsal segments equal in length; 5) sternum 8 mostly membranous, posteriorly with a small genital opening, anterior of the opening forming a sclerite; 6) postgenital plate elongated and pointed distally, exceeding part of the paraprocts; 7) cerci sixsegmented, apical segment unmodified.
The new genus is readily assigned to the family Taeniopterygidae because of the clear presence of three tarsal segments equal in length (Stewart & Stark 2008, Teslenko & Zhiltzova 2009, Chen & Du 2018). Based on the wellproduced postgenital plate and the absence of coxal gills, this genus belongs to the subfamily Brachypterainae (Ricker & Ross 1975). In Taeniopterygidae, only the genus Kyphopteryx Kimmins, 1947 lacks the anterior ocellus; only in Doddsia Needham & Claassen, 1925 and Mesyatsia Ricker & Ross, 1975, the anterior ocellus tends to be smaller than normal (Ricker & Ross 1975, Zhiltzova & Zwick 1993). The complete absence of anterior ocellus in Balticopteryx has excluded its recognition as other taeniopterygid genera except for Kyphopteryx. Apart from the number of ocelli, other comparisons are made between Balticopteryx and the three above mentioned genera, Kyphopteryx, Doddsia and Mesyatsia.
In the three species of Kyphopteryx, the hind wing is exceptionally triangular, which is in normal shape in Balticopteryx (see figs. 623, 625 in Teslenko & Zhiltzova 2009 and fig. 1B in Kimmins 1946); RP has three branches in both wings, which has only two in Balticopteryx; wings have more irregular crossveins especially in subapical section, while the wing venation is simple in Balticopteryx; the 8th sternum of female is completely or partially sclerotized with a notch on posterior margin (see figs. 622, 624 in Teslenko & Zhiltzova 2009 and fig. 3G in Kimmins 1 946), which is mostly membranous in Balticopteryx with a small posterior genital opening. In the only species of the Nearctic Doddsia, Doddsia occidentalis (Banks, 1900), there are additional costal crossveins and more branches of RP and CuA in forewing (see fig. 3 of plate 33 in Needham & Claassen 1925); the sternum 8 is cleft at posterior half and the postgenital plate is beyond the abdominal tip (see fig. 1 of plate 46 in Needham & Claassen 1925), but in Balticopteryx, the sternum 8 is almost complete, and the postgenital plate is much shorter, only covering part of the paraprocts. In Mesyatsia, there are two to four costal crossveins including the humeral crossvein in the forewing (Ricker & Ross 1975, Teslenko & Zhiltzova 1992, 2009), but there is only one in Balticopteryx. In addition, the female of Balticopteryx exhibits a much smaller body size of about 6 mm. In the other three genera, body size is generally over 10 mm in females.
Etymology. The genus name Balticopteryx refers to the holotype collection locality, Baltic.
description: Published as part of Chen, Zhi-Teng, 2018, First record of subfamily Brachypterainae (Plecoptera: Taeniopterygidae) in Baltic amber: a new genus and species, pp. 569-574 in Zootaxa 4527 (4) on page 570, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4527.4.7, http://zenodo.org/record/2612519