A Jurassic Neuropteran From the Lithographic Limestone of Bavaria

In the Hagen collection of fossil insects at the Museum of Comparative ZoSlogy there are a number of Neuropteroides from the lithographic limestone of Solenhofen, Bavaria. Most of these insects were adequately described by Hagen in his several papers on the neuropteroid fauna of this formation, but some of them were dismissed with only a few words or were not described at all, so that their exact affinities have been uncertain. Among these incompletely described fossils there is one which is especially striking, because of its excellent preservation and its affinities with certain recent genera. Since Mesozoic Neuroptera are very rare, it seems advisable to describe this fossil with the completeness it deserves. The insect is a true Neuropteran (Planipennia) and is the specimen to which Hagen applied the name Nymphes fossilis in his Neuropteren aus dem lihographischen Schiefer in Bayern (1862). Except for the mere statement that the fossil was an excellent one, no description or figure was given, so that Hagen’s name for the insect has no standing. Handlirsch did not examine this specimen during the preparation of his comprehensive account of fossil insects, and was obliged to ignore it. The other Neuroptera of the lithographic limestone have been treated by several authors in general accounts of the Solenhofen insects. Eighteen recognizable species have been described, although it is probable that some of these are synonymous. Handlirsch’s division of the species into families is largely artificial and unsatisfactory, but a dependable classification can be made