This page documents the fossil Neuropterida (Neuroptera, Raphidioptera, Megaloptera) of the Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group, southern England. It gives a brief description of the geology and lists the neuropterid taxa that have been recorded. The age and locality of each species is also recorded. This page will be updated when new taxa is described.
Geology
Below is a stratigraphic column of the Purbeck Limestone Group with the fossil insect localities marked with an X.
The Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group of southern England represents a predominantly lagoonal deposit. It is divided into a lower Lulworth Formation and upper Durlston Formation, which are Lower and Upper Berriasian in age respectively (c. 146 – 140 Ma). Insect fossils are common and diverse in the fine-grained rocks in both the Lulworth and Durlston formations, comprising mainly disarticulated remains of terrestrial taxa. The majority of the neuropterid material is from the Corbula Beds.
With the exception of one specimen discovered in the Purbeck of Wiltshire, all specimens have been collected from Dorset, in particular Durlston Bay, Swanage.
Purbeck Neuropterid Fauna
Below is an up-to-date list of all the recorded Neuropterida from the Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group, UK. The details given are order, family, genus, and species. In brackets after the author name is the bed where the specimen was collected. The bed name can be compared with the above stratigraphic column to give more information on the stratigraphy.
NEUROPTERIDA
Order: RAPHIDIOPTERA
Family: Mesoraphididae
Genus: Grimaldiraphidia Bechly and Wolf-Schwenninger, 2011
Grimaldiraphidia mitchelli (Jepson et al., 2009a) (Soft Cockle Beds)
Grimaldiraphidia purbeckensis (Jepson et al., 2009a) (Corbula Beds)
Genus: Mesoraphidia Martynov, 1925
Mesoraphidia durlstonensis Jepson et al., 2009a (Corbula Beds)
Mesoraphidia websteri Jepson et al., 2009a (Corbula Beds)
Order: NEUROPTERA
Family: Osmylidae
Genus: Osmylopsis Handlirsch, 1906
Osmylopsis duplicata (Giebel, 1856) (Lulworth Formation)
Genus: Osmylochrysa Jepson et al., 2012
Osmylochrysa anomala Jepson et al., 2012 (Corbula Beds)
Osmylochrysa fragilis Jepson et al., 2012 (Corbula Beds)
Genus: Mesosmylidus Jepson et al., 2012
Mesosmylidus vulgaris Jepson et al., 2012 (Corbula Beds)
Genus: Stenochrysa Jepson et al., 2012
Stenochrysa gradata Jepson et al., 2012 (Corbula Beds)
Family: Chrysopidae
Genus: Mesypochrysa Martynov, 1927
Mesypochrysa minuta Jepson et al., 2012 (Corbula Beds)
Family: Hemerobiidae?
Genus: Purbemerobius Jepson et al., 2012
Purbemerobius medialis Jepson et al., 2012 (Corbula Beds)
Family: Berothidae
Genus: Epimesoberotha Jepson et al., 2012
Epimesoberotha parva Jepson et al., 2012 (Upper Soft Cockle Beds)
Family: Kalligrammatidae
Genus: Sophogramma Ren and Guo, 1996
Sophogramma wimbledoni Jepson et al., 2012 (Middle Purbeck, Wiltshire)
Family: Psychopsidae
Genus: Purbepsychopsis Jepson et al., 2012
Purbepsychopsis parallela Jepson et al., 2012 (Soft Cockle Beds)
Genus: Pterinoblattina Scudder 1885
Pterinoblattina penna Scudder 1885 (Lulworth Formation)
Pterinoblattina fasciata Jepson et al., 2012 (Soft Cockle Beds)
Pterinoblattina pluma (Giebel, 1856) (Durlston Formation)
Pterinoblattina peverilensis Jepson et al., 2012 (Corbula Beds)
Pterinoblattina sp. (Durlston Bay)
Family: Prohemerobiidae
Genus: Ovalorobius Jepson et al., 2012
Ovalorobius edmondsi Jepson et al., 2012 (Corbula Beds)
Family: Nymphidae
Genus: Sialium Westwood, 1854
Sialium sipylus Westwood 1854 (Lulworth Formation)
Neuroptera incertae sedis
Genus: Pseudocorydasialis Jepson et al., 2012
Pseudocorydasialis alleni Jepson et al., 2012 (Hard Cockle Beds)
Further Reading:
If you want to find out more, the following book gives an in-depth look at the fossil insects of the Purbeck Limestone Group:
Coram, R.A. & Jepson, J.E. 2012. Fossil insects of the Purbeck Limestone Group of southern England: Palaeoentomology from the dawn of the Cretaceous. Siri Scientific Press. 144 pp.
References
Bechly, G. & Wolf-Schwenninger, K. 2011. A new fossil genus and species of snakefly (Raphidioptera: Mesoraphidiidae) from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber, with a discussion of snakefly phylogeny and fossil history. Insect Systematics & Evolution, 42, 221-236
Giebel, G. C. A. 1856. Vorwelt, Bd II. Die Insecten und Spinnen der Vorwelt. Vorwelt. F.U. Brodhaus, 511 pp.
Handlirsch, A. 1906–1908. Die fossilen Insekten und die Phylogenie der rezenten Formen. Wilhelm Engelmann, 1430 pp.
Jepson, J.E., Makarkin, V.N. & Coram, R.A. 2012. New lacewings (Insecta: Neuroptera) from the Lower Cretaceous, Purbeck Limestone Group, UK. Cretaceous Research, 34, 31–47.
Martynov, A.V., 1925. To the knowledge of fossil insects from Jurassic beds in Turkestan. 1. Raphidioptera. 6 seryia. Izvestiya Rossiiskoi akademii Nauk 19, 235–246.
Martynov, A. V. 1927. Jurassic fossil insects from Turkestan. 7. some Odonata, Neuroptera, Thysanoptera. Bulletin de l’Académie des Sciences de l’URSS, 21(6), 757–768.
Ren, D. & Guo, Z. G. 1996. On the new fossil genera and species of Neuroptera (Insecta) from the late Jurassic of northeast China. Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica, 21, 461–479.
Scudder, S. H. 1885. Systematische Übersicht der fossilen Myriopoden [sic], Arachnoideen, und Insekten. In: Zittel, K. A. (ed), Handbuch der Palaeontologie, Abteilung I, Zweiter Band, Palaeozoologie. Oldenbuch, Munich, 721–831.
Westwood, J. O. 1854. Contributions to fossil entomology. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 10, 378–396.
