New species of Mesopsyche Tillyard, 1917 (Mecoptera: Mesopsychidae) from the Triassic of northwestern China

Mesopsyche Tillyard, 1917 is an extinct genus of Mecoptera belonging to the long-proboscid-bearing Mesopsychidae, an adaptation probably associated with pollination of Mesozoic gymnosperms. Here, we describe two new species, Mesopsyche jinsuoguanensis sp. nov., from the Middle Triassic Tongchuan Formation in Shaanxi Province, and Mesopsyche liaoi sp. nov., from the Upper Triassic Huangshanjie Formation in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. The new discoveries highlight the diversity of the Mesopsyche in the region during the Mesozoic.

Automated summary

This study describes two new species of the extinct genus Mesopsyche, Mesopsyche jinsuoguanensis and Mesopsyche liaoi, discovered in Shaanxi Province and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, highlighting the diversity of Mesopsyche in the region during the Mesozoic era.