Cretaceous Embiodea

Includes bibliographical references (p. 10-12).15 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.A new genus and species of webspinner (Insecta: Embiodea = Embiidina, Embioptera auctorum) is described and figured from a well-preserved, alate male in mid-Cretaceous (latest Albian) amber from Myanmar (Burma). Sorellembia estherae, new genus and species, is distinguished from the only other Mesozoic webspinner, Burmitembia venosa Cockerell. Unlike the latter taxon, S. estherae embodies an array of notable plesiomorphies for the Neoembiodea (i.e., those Embiodea with strongly asymmetrical terminalia and the tenth tergum divided). Based on its phylogenetic position, S. estherae is placed in a new family, Sorellembiidae. Burmitembia venosa, on the other hand, possesses a synapomorphic suite of traits indicating placement in the Notoligotomidae (sensu novum) and as sister to the apterous subfamily Australembiinae (status novus). Past authors have considered Burmitembia as deserving of familial status, but it seems more conservative to combine the geographically restricted and species-poor sister families Notoligotomidae and Australembiidae and to consider Burmitembia as merely a subfamily therein (as Burmitembiinae). The phylogeny, classification, and geological history of the order are briefly reviewed