''Lebanoraphidia'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of snakefly in the family

Mesoraphidiidae Mesoraphidiidae is an extinct family (biology), family of snakeflies in the suborder Raphidiomorpha. The family lived from the Late Jurassic through the Late Cretaceous and is known from twenty-five genera. Mesoraphidiids have been found as both ...

. The genus is solely known from

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

, Upper Neocomian, fossil amber found in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. Currently the genus is composed of a single species ''Lebanoraphidia nana''.

History and classification

''Lebanoraphidia nana'' is known only from two fossils, the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

, specimen number SMNS LB-235-2, and the paratype, number SMNS LB-235-1, both of which are housed in the

State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart The State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart (german: Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart), abbreviated SMNS, is one of the two state of Baden-Württemberg's natural history museums. Together with the State Museum of Natural History ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The specimens consist of partially complete adult insects with the holotype being of unidentified sex and the paratype being female. The specimens are preserved in transparent chunks of amber which have been embedded in artificial blocks of resin for study. The fossils were recovered from the outcrops of upper Neocomian rocks dating to about 130 million years old and yielding amber produced by Kauri pines. The outcrops are in the area of

Jezzine Jezzine ( ''Jizzīn'') is a town in Lebanon, located from Sidon and south of Beirut. It is the capital of Jezzine District. Surrounded by mountain peaks, pine forests (like the Bkassine Pine Forest), and at an average altitude of 950 m (3 ...

in southern Lebanon. ''Lebanoraphidia'' was first studied by the paleoentomologists Günter Bechly and Karin Wolf-Schwenninger, both of the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart. Their 2011

type description A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

of the new genus and species was published in the entomology journal ''

Insect Systematics & Evolution Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

''. The genus name ''Lebanoraphidia'' was coined by the researchers as a combination of the snakefly genus ''

Raphidia ''Raphidia'' is a genus of snakefly, mainly found in Europe. Species The following are included in ''BioLib.cz'': ;subgenus ''Aserbeidshanoraphidia'' Aspöck & Aspöck, 1968 * '' Raphidia nuchensis'' H. Aspöck et al., 1968 ;subgenus ''Nigroraph ...

'' and "Lebano" which is in reference to the country of Lebanon where the genus was found. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''nana'' is taken from the Greek word "nanos" meaning dwarf. The name is a reference to the minute size of the adults. ''Lebanoraphidia nana'' is one of four described snakefly genera placed into the tribe Nanoraphidiini and the smallest described to date. The other three genera are '' Grimaldiraphidia'', ''

Cantabroraphidia ''Cantabroraphidia'' is an extinct genus of snakefly in the family Mesoraphidiidae. The genus is solely known from fossil amber found in Cantabria, northern Spain, dating to the Albian age of the Early Cretaceous Period. Currently the genus ...

'', and the type genus '' Nanoraphidia''.

Description

The holotype specimen is an adult of unidentified sex due to the specimen missing all parts below the thorax. The paratype female is also incomplete, with the head missing, a white "slimy" growth along the abdomen and the thorax crushed. Overall the head capsule for the species is generally rhombohedral in outline with antennae composed of an estimated thirty eight flagellomeres. Unlike other members of the tribe, the pronotum of ''Lebanoraphidia'' is about 0.25 times longer than the head, in the other genera it is equal to or subequal to the head in length. The wings are mostly preserved, with the holotypes left forewing entire and the paratypes right hindwing only missing a section of vein structure. The other wings on both specimens are partial to completely missing. The complete forewing of the holotype shows a full length of and a maximum width of , notably smaller than the other genera in Nanoraphidiini. The paratype specimens hindwing shows an overall length of , while the holotype specimens has an overall length of .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6511218 Raphidioptera Cretaceous insects Fossil taxa described in 2011 Cretaceous insects of Asia Natural history of Lebanon