A DIVERSE NEW ASSEMBLAGE OF GREEN LACEWINGS (INSECTA, NEUROPTERA, CHRYSOPIDAE) FROM THE EARLY EOCENE OKANAGAN HIGHLANDS, WESTERN NORTH AMERICA

The early Eocene green lacewings (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae) of the Okanagan Highlands deposits of McAbee, and Driftwood Canyon, British Columbia (Canada) and Republic, Washington (U.S.A.) are treated in detail for the first time. At least six genera are present, one unnamed, three new, with at least 10 new species, six named: Protochrysa fuscobasalis n. sp. (McAbee) (Limaiinae, the youngest known record of the subfamily), Okanaganochrysa coltsunae n. gen. n. sp. (McAbee), Adamsochrysa aspera n. gen. n. sp. (McAbee), A. wilsoni n. gen. n. sp. (Republic), Archaeochrysa profracta n. sp. (McAbee), and Pseudochrysopa harveyi n. gen. n. sp. (Driftwood Canyon) (all Nothochrysinae, the latter provisionally). The four unnamed species include one assigned to Pseudochrysopa, two likely belonging to Adamsochrysa, and one of an unknown nothochrysine genus. Microtholi are detected on the abdominal sclerites of Adamsochrysa wilsoni, and the spermatheca and spermathecal duct in the abdomen of Pseudochrysopa harveyi, the first reported occurrences of these preserved in fossil Chrysopidae. Structures were detected on the apical wing margins of some species that appear similar to trichosors, which are unknown in Chrysopidae, but are present in some other neuropteran families. This is the richest described assemblage of the family anywhere in the fossil record. Okanagan chrysopids were also morphologically and presumably ecologically diverse, including large species with rich venation and well as those with simplified venation and the smallest known fossil species. This is the oldest reported occurrence of the family in North America.