Paoliidae Handlirsch, 1906

Family Paoliidae Handlirsch, 1906

Genus Avionpaolia nov.

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Type species: Avionpaolia amansfossilia sp. nov., by monotypy; see below.

Etymology: After the outcrop of Avion and the genus name Paolia . Gender feminine.

Diagnosis.—As for the type species, by monotypy.

Remarks.—This wing is attributable to the order Paoliida because it shows the diagnostic characters ( Prokop et al. 2014b): crossveins simple or reticulate often forming a net of irregular cells; concave ScP ending in C or RA in distal half of wing; strongly convex RA simple or with weak, short but distinct anterior branches, unusually prominent steep elevation from ScP to RA forming a characteristic wing profile; costal area between ScP and costal margin with series of rather irregular, simple or branching, sigmoidal or oblique veinlets; RP rather concave with numerous branches; M rather concave; convex CuA and concave CuP separating from a basal stem Cu; CuA not in contact with stem R+M; a short, more or less distinct, but generally relatively convex arculus brace (crossvein) between M and CuA; area between CuP and CuA broad compared to the median and radial areas (autapomorphy), a general course of CuA making a double curve (autapomorphy); CuA has convex posterior branches, more or less developed (depending on the species), plus some weaker concave anterior branches (synapomorphy with Dictyoptera, see below); CuP simple or with a short terminal twig, straight or more or less sigmoidal, not posteriorly curved; anal fan strongly reduced on both wing pairs. Furthermore the extremely broad area between CuA and CuP, much broader than the other areas in the wing, and with distinct veinlets, and RP with only four-five branches are typical of the Paoliidae . “ Paolia sp. ” is already known from the same outcrop of Avion ( Prokop et al. 2014a), but the new fossil differs from it in the presence of regular simple crossveins in subcostal area, the much longer stem of M and base of RP much distad base of M. Indeed, these three characters allow to differentiate the new fossil from all the other Paoliidae in which the base of RP is closer to the base of M and to the “arculus” and/or first fork of M basad the base of RP ( Prokop et al. 2014b; Rasnitsyn and Aristov 2016; Poschmann and Nel 2020, Nel and Poschmann 2021; Santos et al. 2023).

Stratigraphic and geographic range.—Moscovian, Northern France.

Avionpaolia amansfossilia sp. nov.

Fig. 5 View Fig .

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Etymology: From Latin amans fossilia, those who love fossils; named in recognition of the tremendous work done by the team of amateurs on the slag heaps of Northern France.

Holotype: MNHN.F.A.95111, median part of a wing with apex and base missing.

Type locality: Coal heap N°7, Avion, Pas-de-Calais, France.

Type horizon: Moscovian (Westphalian C/D equivalent to Bolsovian/ Asturian), Middle Pennsylvanian, Carboniferous.

Diagnosis.—Wing characters only. ScP rather short; presence of regular simple crossveins in subcostal area; base of RP well distad that of M; fork of M distad base of RP; stem of M very long; CuA nearly straight, with one anterior and six posterior branches.

Description.—Preserved part of wing 20.0 mm long, wing probably ca. 35.0 mm long, 7.0 mm wide; costal area 1.0 mm wide, with a series of simple oblique veinlets; ScP nearly straight, ending in costa well basad wing apex; area between ScP and RA 0.8 mm wide, with regular simple crossveins; RA nearly straight and curved at apex, emitting a series of simple veinlets towards C and apically fused with RP; base of RP very far distad base of M, 4.5 mm apart; RP with four branches, all simple in preserved part; MA directed towards RP and shortly fused with it, separating again distally, and simple in preserved part; stem of M 7.4 mm long, very long before fork into MA and MP; MP simple in preserved part; areas between RP and

A1

A2

M and between M and CuA broad, but distinctly less that between CuA and CuP; a basal oblique crossvein between M and CuA “arculus” situated near base of M from R, base of CuA not preserved, but this vein clearly not basally fused with R or M and coming from a common stem with CuP; CuA nearly straight, with six simple posterior branches and a distal anterior branch; area between CuA and CuP very broad, 2.0 mm wide, with an irregular net of large cells in between; CuP nearly straight, but with distal part not preserved; three long straight and parallel veins and a net of cells in cubito-anal area.

Remarks.—This fossil is probably a forewing because of the rather narrow cubito-anal area and general shape of the wing not triangular.

Stratigraphic and geographic range.—Moscovian, Northern France.