Aestuacrida stereofemoris, Schall & Lima & Heads & Pinheiro & Kotthoff & Husemann, 2025

Aestuacrida stereofemoris new species urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2

Etymology: The species name refers to the heavily built metafemora. It is derived from the Ancient Greek stereós (solidly built) and Latin femur.

Locality and horizon: Type locality imprecise; from one of the several quarries in the region of Nova Olinda and Santana do Cariri municipalities, Ceará State, Brazil. Nova Olinda Member , Crato Formation, Santana Group. Early Cretaceous, Aptian .

Type material: Holotype male in the collection of Museu de Paleontologia Plácido Cidade Nuvens , Universidade Regional do Cariri, Santana do Cariri, Ceará, Brazil, coll. no. MPSC 9838 View Materials .

Diagnosis: Overall stocky body and very sturdy hind femurs (length/width-ratio ca. 3.0). Origin of tegminal RP distinctly posterior to forking of M. RP with five or six branches. Cross vein pattern relatively simple.

Description: The specimen has body, wings, left hindleg and part of the right hindleg preserved.

Measurements: Body length 12.9 mm, height (measure taken at thorax) 4.7 mm. Head height 3.3 mm. Forewing length 16 mm, height 2.8 mm. Metafemur 8.3 mm long, ca. 2.8 mm wide. Metatibia 7.1 mm long. Metatarsus 2.2 mm long.

Body: Body rather stocky (length/height-ratio 2.74). Head rather short, much shorter than thorax.

Legs: Metathoracic femur very sturdy, length/height-ratio 3.0. Oblique lateral carinae present. Metatibia narrow with no apparent spination other than 2 (?) apical spurs. Metatarsus with no spines or lobes.

Forewing: Length/height-ratio 5.7. ScP long and narrow, at least 81.5% of total wing length (twl) (venation not preserved in most distal part of wing; ScP would have been longer). Space between ScP and RA 9.4% of total wing height (twh). Origin of RP at 54.5% of twl, distinctly posterior to fork of M. Space between RA and RP 11.3% of wing height. RP with 5 or 6 branches (attribution of RP3 to forewing or hindwing unsure due to strong wing overlap; we suggest RP of forewing with 5 branches). M with two branches; fork of M at 44.5% of twl. CuA + CuPaα with four branches; anterior branch reaching anal margin of forewing at ca. 69.8% of twl. Second branch probably reaching anal wing margin too. Third and fourth branch do not reach anal wing margin but make contact with CuPaβ. CuPaβ reaching anal wing margin at ca. 62.6% of twl. Cross vein pattern rather simple; consisting mainly of simple orthogonal cross veins set at rather wider distance.

Remarks: The single species of this genus is characterized by relatively thick hindfemora. Whether this trait is a common feature of Aestuacrida remains unanswered until additional species are described. Unfortunately, most locustopsids do not have their hindlegs well-preserved, hence providing little applicability to the character of femur width regarding taxonomy of the family.