A remarkable new genus of the snakefly family Mesoraphidiidae (Insecta: Raphidioptera) from the Lower Cretaceous of China, with description of a new species

A fossil snakefly species, Mesoraphidia obliquivenatica (Ren, 1994), from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Barremian) of the Yixian Formation in Liaoning Province, China was discovered to possess an extremely prolonged occiput, which is a remarkable feature previously unknown in snakeflies. Based primarily on this feature, a new genus of the family Mesoraphidiidae, namely Stenoraphidia gen. nov., is erected to contain this species. In addition, a second and new species of Stenoraphidia gen. nov., i.e. Stenoraphidia longioccipitalis sp. nov., is described from the same deposit. A summary of the morphological diversification of head shapes in snakeflies is given.