. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology. 150 P. E. S. WHALLEY the long radial cell and the shape of the intramedian cell are similar. However, the origin of the radial sector is atypical of the Chrysopidae and the marginal veins in the fossil are unbranched. The cells in the median/apical area of the wing are more numerous than in the Meso- raphidiidae and are more typical of the Baissopteridae, although the described species of Baissoptera Martynova all have shorter subcostal veins. The radial cell in Priscaenigma is longer than in Baissoptera and the new species may well
. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology. 150 P. E. S. WHALLEY the long radial cell and the shape of the intramedian cell are similar. However, the origin of the radial sector is atypical of the Chrysopidae and the marginal veins in the fossil are unbranched. The cells in the median/apical area of the wing are more numerous than in the Meso- raphidiidae and are more typical of the Baissopteridae, although the described species of Baissoptera Martynova all have shorter subcostal veins. The radial cell in Priscaenigma is longer than in Baissoptera and the new species may well merit a new family of its own. Order MECOPTERA, scorpion flies The publication of their bibliography of the Mecoptera by Schlee & Schlee (1976) and of Willmann's (1978) catalogue of fossil Mecoptera has brought together the very scattered liter- ature of this order. Following Hennig (1981) and other workers, the two main suborders of the Mecoptera, Eumecoptera and Protomecoptera, are accepted here. The Protomecoptera, which are exclu- sively fossil, have many subcostal veinlets and a modified cubital vein. The vast majority of Recent and fossil species are placed in the Eumecoptera, in which the number of costal veinlets is reduced and the cubital vein is unbranched. Hennig interpreted the cubital vein as a compos- ite one with M4. From the Lower Permian into the early Jurassic, Mecoptera fossils are common. They are known from the Lower Cretaceous and into the Tertiary (Willmann 1978) but are far less abundant in the Recent fauna. In the late Triassic and throughout the Jurassic fossil Mecoptera are numerous both as species and individuals, their abundance at this period contrasting sharply with the small size of the Recent fauna, with only about 300 extant species. This is the reverse of the position with, for example, the Diptera or Lepidoptera, which are rare as fossils in the Jurassic but abundant in the Recent fauna. Recent Mecoptera are mostly carnivorous in adult an
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