The oldest Carboniferous representative of the insect clade Neuropteroidea (Insecta: Holometabola)

Westphaloneura magnifica gen. et sp. nov., the first known representative of the stem group Neuropteroidea (= Neuropterida + Coleopterida) is described from the Bashkirian/Moscovian of Northern France, in the new family Westphaloneuridae fam. nov. It is based on two forewings and an incomplete hind wing. Its forewing vein media anterior (MA) being well separated from radius/radius posterior vein (R/RP) is a putative symplesiomorphy, also present in the Coleopterida, justifying the proposed position of the fossil. This fossil is contemporaneous with the oldest known Panorpida, sister group of the Neuropteroidea, also from the same area. This first occurrence provides a new key calibration point for the divergence of two Holometabola lineages and will help time-divergence analyses.