Melanastera casca BURCKHARDT & DROHOJOWSKA, 2024

Melanastera casca BURCKHARDT & DROHOJOWSKA sp. nov.

Fig. 1E View Fig , 4 View Fig

LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:329F8C6-4FAE-43BE-9547-A6B86A765CAC

Etymology: From the Latin adjective cascus (1 st /2 nd declension) = ancient, old, archaic, referring to the age of the fossils.

Holotype: Female specimen, sample #37 ( GPAC) .

Type locality: Dominican Republic, Cordillera Septentrional .

Description. Adult: Colouration. Brown. Antennal segments 4–7 dark apically, segments 8–10 entirely dark. Forewing with dark veins and colourless membrane.

Structure. Head, in dorsal view, wider than pronotum, slightly narrower than thorax, moderately transverse ( Fig. 1 E View Fig , 4 A View Fig ). Vertex subrectangular, 2.1 times as wide as long; passing smoothly into genae anteriorly; coronal suture not visible basally; median ocellus visible in perpendicular view to vertex; compound eyes, in dorsal view, hemispherical, appressed to head. Antenna ( Fig. 1 E View Fig ) probably 10-segmented, but subdivisions not clear; slightly longer than head width. Metacoxa ( Fig. 4 B View Fig ) with long tubular meracanthus. Metatibia longer than metafemur, weakly widening towards apex; apical metatibial spurs sclerotised, difficult to see, probably between 6 and 8 in numbers ( Fig. 4 B View Fig ). Metatarsal segments moderately long, basal segment slightly longer. Forewing ( Fig. 1 E View Fig , 4 C View Fig ) oval, widest in the middle; 2.3 times as long as wide, membranous; vein C+Sc moderately curved, slender, distinctly delimited to cell; cell c+sc wide; costal break developed, close to apex of vein R 1; pterostigma moderately wide, with subparallel margin in the median third, not expanded in apical third; entirely membranous; nodal line developed; vein R about as long as M+Cu; vein Rs mostly straight, weakly curved to costal margin basally and subapically; vein M much longer than M 1+2; vein Cu 1a straight at base, curved towards anal margin in apical third; veins M 1+2 and M 3+4 perpendicular to wing margin apically; cell cu 2 long; anal break adjacent to apex of vein Cu 1b; surface spinules covering all cells, forming irregular transverse rows. Male unknown. Female terminalia ( Fig. 4 D View Fig ) cuneate; proctiger mostly straight dorsally, weakly concave subapically; apex subacute; beset with moderately long hairs across the middle; subgenital plate mostly straight ventrally, slightly upcurved apically.

Measurements (in mm): Head width 0.45; antenna length 0.65; forewing length 1.3; metatibia length 0.34; female proctiger length 0.3.

Comments: In general habitus, in the venation of the forewings (with the vein C +Sc, which is not widened and clearly delimited from the neighbouring cell, and a uniform membranous pterostigma), in the structure of the hind legs (with several indistinctly grouped, sclerotised apical spurs on metatibiae) and in the female terminalia, the new species is similar to extant Neotropical species of Melanastera ( BURCKHARDT et al. 2023) . Melanastera casca differs from the described Melanastera species in the pterostigma of the forewing with mostly subparallel margins rather than widened in the apical third. The characteristic pterostigma shape in M. casca is shared by M. vetus BURCKHARDT & DROHOJOWSKA sp. nov. and four undescribed species from southern and southeastern Brazil associated with Asteraceae (hosts confirmed for three species by the presence of immatures and likely for one species). The four extant species will be described in a monograph on the Paurocephalini from Brazil ( SERBINA et al. 2024). Melanastera casca differs from M. vetus by the much longer cell cu 1 of the forewing and the shorter, more robust female terminalia. From the extant species associated with Asteraceae , M. casca differs in the broader forewings (2.2 versus> 2.4) and the relatively short female proctiger with an almost straight dorsal outline (versus relatively long with a distinctly sinuate or concave dorsal outline).