A systematic reappraisal of Araripeneuridae (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontoidea), with description of new species from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil

Two new species of the extinct family Araripeneuridae are described from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil: Caririneura macrothoracica sp. nov. and Cratoneura minor sp. nov. Caririneura damianii Martins-Neto, 1992a and C. crassatella Martins-Neto and Vulcano, 1997 are transferred to the genus Araripeneura Martins-Neto and Vulcano, 1989a. The genera Blittersdorffia Martins-Neto and Vulcano, 1989a, Pseudonymphes Martins-Neto and Vulcano, 1989a and Burmaneura Huang et al., 2016 are removed from Araripeneuridae. These genera, together with Choromyrmeleon Ren and Guo, 1996, constitute the perhaps paraphyletic “Pseudonymphidae”, which may be a stem group of Myrmeleontidae + Ascalaphidae. Pseudonymphes is a most primitive genus of Myrmeleontoidae, having trichosors at the wing apex. The family Araripeneuridae as restricted herein, is considered to comprise 15–17 Early Cretaceous species in 7–9 genera. Due to the lack of distinguishing characters, the two subfamilies Cratoalloneurinae and Cratopteryxinae are synonymised with Araripeneuridae. The forewing venation of Araripeneuridae is most similar to that of Nemopteridae, and these families might be closely related, constituting a nemopterid lineage.