Sinoagetopanorpidae fam. nov., a New Family of Scorpionflies (Insecta, Mecoptera) from the Guadalupian of South China

Abstract

Mecoptera was in great abundance in the Permian, but little is known from China. A new family, Sinoagetopanorpidae fam. nov., is described and illustrated from the upper Guadalupian Yinping Formation at Yinping Mountain, Chaohu City, Anhui Province, China. Sinoagetopaorpa permiana Lin, Nel and Huang, 2010 was previously attributed to Permochoristidae and now is revised as the type species of Sinoagetopanorpidae fam. nov. Three genera (two new genera) and ten new species of this new family are described and illustrated: Sinoagetopanorpa permiana Lin, Nel and Huang, 2010, S. nigra sp. nov., S. rotunda sp. nov., S. lini sp. nov., S. minuta sp. nov., S. elegans sp. nov., S. grimaldii sp. nov., S. magna sp. nov., Raragetopanorpa zhangi gen. et sp. nov., Permoagetopanorpa yinpingensis gen. et sp. nov. and P. incompleta sp. nov. Some isolated hind wings are described and illustrated, although it is difficult to assign them to any particular species. As a dominant mecopteran lineage in the Yinping Formation, Sinoagetopanorpidae represents an endemic group that might have independently evolved on the Yangtze Platform.