Palaeodictyoptera Goldenberg, 1877

Order Palaeodictyoptera Goldenberg, 1877 View in CoL Family Spilapteridae Brongniart, 1893 Genus Spilaptera Brongniart, 1885

Type species: Spilaptera packardi Brongniart, 1885 ; Commentry , France; Gzhelian , Upper Pennsylvanian, Carboniferous .

Spilaptera sp.

Fig. 1 View Fig .

Material.—MNHN.F.A95110, a forewing obliquely broken into two fragments, with median part partly missing; from coal slag heap N°7, Avion, Pas-de-Calais, France; Moscovian, (Westphalian C /D equivalent to Bolsovian/ Asturian), Middle Pennsylvanian, Carboniferous.

Description.— Forewing rather elongate, pointed, broadest in basal third, estimated maximum width ca. 9.0 mm, estimated length ca. 25.5 mm; anterior costal margin weakly serrate, concave in midwing; concave ScP nearly straight, ending in wing apex; costal area basally broad, markedly narrowing in midwing; RA + RP basally connected, convex RA nearly straight, ending in wing apex, RP diverging from RA about 7.5 mm from wing base, distally pectinate, ending with five simple main branches covering wing apex; simple straight or oblique crossveins present in area between RA and RP; division MA and MP ca. 1.0 mm distad of separation RA and RP; convex MA ending with two branches on posterior wing margin; concave MP ending with four branches on wing posterior margin; division of CuA and CuP close to wing base; CuA ending with four branches, concave CuP probably with two or three branches; anal area consisting of six branches.

Remarks.—This fossil is a forewing of Palaeodictyoptera attributable to the Spilapteroidea because the presence of the branched MA and CuA, ScP separated from the radius and ending close to the wing apex and the archeodictyon (dense pattern of crossveins) being absent ( Riek 1976; Prokop et al. 2014a). Li et al. (2013) provided a matrix of characters for the separation of families and genera within the Spilapteroidea supporting the placement of the new fossil within Spilapteridae and Spilaptera or Homaloneura Brongniart, 1885 . The fossil is attributable to Spilaptera because of: anterior wing margin more or less concave; long oblique sigmoidal crossveins between RA and RP, RP pectinate, with five main posterior branches and area between RA and RP with numerous oblique crossveins; stem of M and MA free from RP; MA and MP ending with long branches; CuA with four terminal branches. Spilaptera splendens Prokop et al., 2014a , is already described from Avion. The new fossil differs from this species in the distinctly smaller wing (25.5 mm long vs. ca. 43 mm long), and longer stem of RP, 7.1 mm long vs. 5.6 mm in the type of S. splendens .

Spilaptera americana Carpenter & Richardson, 1971 , known from Westphalian C/D (Moscovian, Middle Pennsylvanian) of Mazon Creek (Illinois, USA), shares with the new fossil a long stem of RP, but differs from it by the MA having four branches instead of two, and by its longer wing, 38 mm long vs. 25.5 mm ( Carpenter and Richardson 1971). Spilaptera libelluloides Brongniart, 1885 , S. packardi Brongniart, 1885 , and S. vetusta Brongniart, 1885 , are all known from the Gzhelian (Stephanian) of Commentry ( France). Spilaptera libelluloides has CuA with five branches, S. packardi also has a MA with four branches, S. vetusta and S. tanaica Sharov & Sinitshenkova, 1977 , from the

A1

A2 2 mm (+) (-) (+) (+) CuA

Kasimovian of Lomovatka River, Alymaznaya, Ukraine, have no sigmoidal veinlets in area between RA and RP. Spilaptera peckae Rosová et al., 2022 , from Moscovian of Germany is based on a longer wing than the new fossil (34.5 mm vs. 24.5 mm long) and it has a three-branched MA ( Rosová et al. 2022). Lastly, an undescribed Spilaptera species from the Moscovian of the Northern France has a wing more than 32.0 mm long (AN unpublished data). The new fossil strongly resembles S. peckae except in its smaller size.