title: The smallest Neoptera (Baryshnyalidae fam. n.) from Hagen-Vorhalle (early Late Carboniferous: Namurian B; Germany).
abstract: With Baryshnyala occultagen. et sp. n. (Baryshnyalidaefam. n.) we report a new small species from early Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) deposits in Hagen-Vorhalle. It differs in its unique venation pattern and small size from all other Neoptera known from this Lagerstätte and other contemporaneous locations worldwide. With an estimated wing length of <10 mm it is by far the smallest species of Neoptera from Hagen-Vorhalle and is less than half as long as Heterologopsis ruhrensis Brauckmann & Koch, 1982 (~25 mm). The specimen shows some relations to the earliest Holometabola and may date back the first appearance of holometaboly to the Namurian B (early Bashkirian: Marsdenian). The new species increases the paleo-biodiversity and span of inter-specific variability within the early Neoptera. It shows that very small and tiny specimens and species can easily be overlooked.
authors.affiliation: Clausthal University of Technology, Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Leibnizstraße 10, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan-Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ilger
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brauckmann