A new genus and species of brown lacewing from Venezuela (Neuroptera: Hemerobiidae), with comments on the evolution of the hemerobiid forewing radial vein

Abstract. Biramus lunatus gen.n., sp.n. is described from Venezuela. This species is of special phylogenetic interest as it is the sister-group of the subfamily Hemerobiinae ( sensu Oswald, 1993), which previously contained four genera ( Hemerobiella, Hemerobius, Nesobiella and Wesmaelius ) and approximately 200 of the c. 550 world hemerobiid species. The conformation of the forewing radius in Biramus is especially interesting and provides a test case for distinguishing parallel evolution among forewing radial vein states within the Hemerobiidae.