A new beaded lacewing from a new Lower Cretaceous amber outcrop in Lebanon (Neuroptera: Berothidae)

Dany Azara and André Nelb aLebanese University, Faculty of Sciences II, Department of Natural Sciences, P.O. Box 26110217, Fanar – Matn, Lebanon E-mail: [email protected] bCNRS UMR 7205, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CP 50, Entomologie, 45 rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Sibelliberotha rihanensis gen. et sp. n., a new berothid Neuroptera, from Rihan (South Lebanon), a new Lower Cretaceous amber outcrop, is char- acterized, described, illustrated and its phylogenetic position is discussed. This new fossil taxon possesses several plesiomorphic features that place it very basally within the available phylogeny of modern Berothidae, but close to the modern clade (Nyrminae + Cyrenoberothinae). It enriches our knowledge of the palaeodiversity of this peculiar neuropteran family.

Keywords Berothidae, phylogeny, gen. et sp. n., Lower Cretaceous, Lebanon, new amber outcrop.

Introduction The neuropteran family Berothidae (or beaded lacewings) is relatively a small family comprising about 100 living described species in 22 genera, if we do not count the subfamily Rhachiberothinae (Aspöck & Nemeschkal 1998; Archibald & Makarkin 2004). The status of the latter subfamily remains unclear, and is considered as a subfamily of Berothidae (Tjeder 1959; MacLeod & Adams 1967; Grimaldi 2000), or a subfamily of the Manti­ spidae (Willmann 1990; 1994), or even as a separate family (Aspöck & Mansell 1994; Aspöck & Aspöck 1997). Very recently Makarkin & Kupryjanowicz (2010) reconsidered the position of the rhachiberoth- ids, reconsidering this clade as a subfamily of the Berothidae and also

112 dany azar and andré nel transferred nearly all the fossil rhachiberothids into the berothid subfamily Paraberothinae Nel et al. 2005. For convenience, we follow their classification even if a new phylogenetic analysis of the whole group would be welcome, as the only available one is that of Aspöck & Nemeschkal (1998). Fossil register of Berothidae is relatively rich with 35 fossil species, described from various localities (see list in Makarkin et al. (2011), with the additions of Mesithone Panfilov, 1980 in Makarkin et al. (2012), and Epimesoberotha Jepson et al., 2012 (Jepson et al. 2012)). Herein we describe a new fossil neuropteran berothid from Rihan, a new Lower Cretaceous amber outcrop from Southern Lebanon, which yielded to date to circa 150 biological inclusions, most of them new and very interesting.

Material and Methods The amber material is originated from Rihan village, Caza Jezzine (Jezzine Department), Mohafazat Loubnan El-Janoubi (South Lebanon Governorate), Southern Lebanon. This outcrop has been discovered on 6 June 2012 during a field trip undertaken by Mr Lutfallah Azar and Miss Eden Hailou in addition to the first author. The outcrop is situated in the beginning of Rihan village in the left side of the road leading to Jezzine, just after getting out from the Ayshiyyeh village. Amber in this outcrop is found as relatively large pebbles (size variant, like walnut or smaller to fist or bigger) in light grey massive sandstone that contain rare lignite remains (Figs 1–2) assigned to Neocomian age (Dubertret 1950, 1955). The fossil in amber was carefully prepared in Canada balsam medium, following the method described by Azar et al. (2003), in order to observe as many characters as possible. Thus the ‘absences’ of structures are accu- rate, which is different of structures that are ‘not visible’ but maybe present. The specimen was examined with an Olympus SZX9 stereomi- croscope and an Olympus inverted compound microscope CK40, both equipped with camera lucida for line drawings and digital cameras.

Systematic Palaeontology Order Neuroptera Linnaeus, 1758 Family Berothidae Handlirsch, 1906