A new myrmeleontoid genus and species from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation (Neuroptera, Babinskaiidae)

Abstract

The small Mesozoic myrmeleontoid family Babin-skaiidae comprises 13 described species in nine genera known from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil, the Baissa locality of Russian Siberia, and mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Lu et al., 2017; Makarkin et al., 2017; Hu et al., 2018; Huang et al., 2019; Makarkin & Staniczek, 2019; Ngô-Muller et al., 2020). Makarkin et al. (2017) made an extensive revision of these small antlions, and pointed out their morphological proximity with the Nymphidae. However, they could not revise Neliana impolluta Martins-Neto, 1997, whose holotype is a poorly preserved specimen. Thus even the generic attribution of this species remained uncertain.