# Styporaphidia > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Styporaphidia > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Styporaphidia.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styporaphidia > Source revision: 1349095677 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) ***Styporaphidia*** is a [genus](/source/Genus) of [snakefly](/source/Snakefly), belonging to the [extinct](/source/Extinct) family [Mesoraphidiidae](/source/Mesoraphidiidae), containing up to three species, the type species ***Styporaphidia magia***,[1] ***Styporaphidia willmanni*** and tentatively ***Styporaphidia? hispanica***.[2] The genus was named from the Greek *stypos* meaning "stem" or "stump" and *[Raphidia](/source/Raphidia)*, the type genus for, and most often used as, a stem for generic names in the order Raphidioptera.[1] The species name of *S. magia* is from the Greek word *mageia* meaning "magic"[1] while the species name for *S.? hispanica* is from the Latin *Hispania* meaning "Spain" in reference to the type locality of the species.[2] ## *S. magia* *S. magia* is known from only the [holotype](/source/Holotype), a single specimen of undetermined sex, deposited in the Department of Biology, [Capital Normal University](/source/Capital_Normal_University), [Beijing](/source/Beijing), [China](/source/China) as specimen number NNS-200202.[1] Preserved as a [compression fossil](/source/Compression_fossil), the individual is fossilized in a resting position giving a top view to the body and wings. Paleontologiests [Michael S. Engel](/source/Michael_S._Engel) and [Dong Ren](/source/Dong_Ren) first studied and described *S. magia* and the co-occurring *[Ororaphidia](/source/Ororaphidia)* and in 2008, publishing the [type description](/source/Type_(biology)) in the *[Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society](/source/Journal_of_the_Kansas_Entomological_Society)* volume 81.[1] The *S. magia* holotype was found in the near Daohugou Village, [Inner Mongolia](/source/Inner_Mongolia), China in strata belonging to the [Jiulongshan Formation](/source/Jiulongshan_Formation). This formation is dated to the early [middle Jurassic](/source/Middle_Jurassic) and specifically [Aalenian](/source/Aalenian) to [Bajocian](/source/Bajocian) in age.[1] The dating places *S. magia* and *Ororaphidia* as the oldest raphidiopterans known from China to date.[1] With no [ovipositor](/source/Ovipositor) present and the terminal section of the abdomen absent it is not possible to identify the sex of the holotype specimen. The overall length of *S. magia* is 13 millimetres (0.51 in) and has a forewing length of 10 millimetres (0.39 in).[1] The head is longer than it is wide and is longer than the [prothorax](/source/Prothorax). *Styporaphidia* possesses the primitive feature of two crossveins in the [pterostigma](/source/Pterostigma).[1] This feature is found in some [mesozoic](/source/Mesozoic) genera of the [Baissopteridae](/source/Baissopteridae). However it can be distinguished from the baissopterids the lack of numerous crossveins in the radial and medial fields of the wings.[1] ## *S.? hispanica* *S.? hispanica* is also known only from a [holotype](/source/Holotype), specimen number **MCNA 9343**. The specimen is composed of a partial isolated [hindwing](/source/Insect_wing) and a partial abdomen preserved in a small fragment of amber. The fossil was recovered from outcrops of the [Escucha Formation](/source/Escucha_Formation) in Moraza, part of the [Province of Burgos](/source/Province_of_Burgos) in Northern Spain.[2] *S.? hispanica* was first studied by group of paleoentomologists led by Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente of the [University of Barcelona](/source/University_of_Barcelona) and including Enrique Peñalver, Xavier Delclòs, and [Michael S. Engel](/source/Michael_S._Engel). Their 2012 [type description](/source/Type_(biology)) of the species was published in the electronic journal *[ZooKeys](/source/ZooKeys)*.[2] While little of the single specimen is preserved, the tip of the abdomen shows the insect was a male. Due to the proximity of the hindwing and abdomen the two are assumed to belong to the same individual. The section of hindwing present is 3.5 millimetres (0.14 in) long and 2.5 millimetres (0.098 in) wide.[2] Pérez-de la Fuente and coauthors tentatively placed the species into *Styporaphidia* based on the presence of two crossveins in the pterostigma. Two crossveins is a feature that is found in few described snakeflies and the preserved vein structure indicates placement within Mesoraphidiidae. Since the base of the pterostigma is not preserved it is not possible to firmly place the species into *Styporaphidia*. The two species are distinguished the finer details of the wing veins.[2] ## *S. willmanni* The holotype female for *S. willmanni*, **CNU-RAP-LB-2017107** is preserved in the [Capital Normal University](/source/Capital_Normal_University) College of Life Sciences collections in Beijing. The partially complete specimen is missing the distal half of the abdomen and most of the fore and hind wings on the left side.[3] ## References 1. Engel, M.S. & Ren, D. (2008). ["New Snakeflies from the Jiulongshan Formation of Inner Mongolia, China (Raphidioptera)"](https://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2317/JKES-802.19.1?journalCode=kent). *Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society*. **81** (3): 188–193. [doi:10.2317/JKES-802.19.1](https://doi.org/10.2317/JKES-802.19.1). [S2CID 84348601](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:84348601) 1. Pérez-de la Fuente, R.; Peñalver, E.; Delclòs, X.; Engel, M.S. (2012). "Snakefly diversity in Early Cretaceous amber from Spain (Neuropterida, Raphidioptera)". *ZooKeys*. '***(204): 1–40. [doi:10.3897/zookeys.204.2740](https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.204.2740). [PMC 3391719](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3391719). [PMID 22787417](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22787417)*** 1. Xiumei Lu; Weiwei Zhang; Bo Wang; Michael S. Engel; Xingyue Liu (2020). "A new and diverse paleofauna of the extinct snakefly family Baissopteridae from the mid-Cretaceous of Myanmar (Raphidioptera)". *Organisms Diversity & Evolution*. **20** (4): 565–595. [doi:10.1007/s13127-020-00455-y](https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-020-00455-y). [S2CID 221182988](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:221182988) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Styporaphidia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styporaphidia) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styporaphidia?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.