A comparative overview of the neuropteran assemblage of the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation (China), with description of a new genus of Psychopsidae (Insecta: Neuroptera)

Alloepipsychopsis lata gen. et sp. nov. (Psychopsidae) is described from the Barremian Yixian Formation. Mesithoninae is considered as a subfamily of Berothidae, stat. nov., Baissoleon as a member of Nymphidae, sit. nov., and Chimerochrysopa as Mesochrysopidae, sit. nov. The taxonomic composition of the neuropteran assemblage of this formation (including undescribed material) is summarized. It includes approximately 65 species belonging to 15 families. The assemblage is dominated by Chrysopidae and Ithonidae in terms of number of specimens, while other Lower Cretaceous impression localities are dominated by other families: Psychopsidae (English Purbeck and Wealden; East Siberian Baissa), Mesochrysopidae (Spanish Las Hoyas), and Myrmeleontoidea (Brazilian Crato Formation). The great diversity of Ithonidae and Kalligrammatidae in the Yixian Formation compared with other Cretaceous localities supports the hypothesis of an existence of a refugium of Jurassic terrestrial relicts in East Asia.