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BackgroundLacewings (insect order Neuroptera), known in the fossil record since the Early Permian, were most diverse in the Mesozoic. A dramatic variety of forms ranged in that time from large butterfly-like Kalligrammatidae to minute two-winged Dipteromantispidae.Principal FindingsWe describe the intriguing new neuropteran family Parakseneuridae fam. nov. with three new genera and 15 new species from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou (Inner Mongolia, China) and the Early/Middle Jurassic of Sai-Sagul (Kyrgyzstan): Parakseneura undula gen. et sp. nov., P. albomacula gen. et sp. nov., P. curvivenis gen. et sp. nov., P. nigromacula gen. et sp. nov., P. nigrolinea gen. et sp. nov., P. albadelta gen. et sp. nov., P. cavomaculata gen. et sp. nov., P. inflata gen. et sp. nov., P. metallica gen. et sp. nov., P. emarginata gen. et sp. nov., P. directa gen. et sp. nov., Pseudorapisma jurassicum gen. et sp. nov., P. angustipenne gen. et sp. nov., P. maculatum gen. et sp. nov. (Daohugou); Shuraboneura ovata gen. et sp. nov. (Sai-Sagul). The family comprises large neuropterans with most primitive wing venation in the order indicated by the presence of ScA and AA1+2, and the dichotomous branching of MP, CuA, CuP, AA3+4, AP1+2. The phylogenetic position of Parakseneuridae was investigated using a phylogenetic analysis of morphological scoring for 33 families of extinct and extant Neuropterida combined with DNA sequence data for representatives of all extant families. Parakseneuridae were recovered in a clade with Osmylopsychopidae, Prohemerobiidae, and Ithonidae.Conclusions/SignificanceThe presence of the presumed AA1+2 in wings of Parakseneuridae is a unique plesiomorphic condition hitherto unknown in Neuropterida, the clade comprising Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Raphidioptera. The relative uncertainty of phylogenetic position of Parakseneuridae and the majority of other families of Neuroptera reflects deficient paleontological data, especially from critical important periods for the order, earliest Triassic and latest Triassic/earliest Jurassic.

Palaeomagnetic investigation of Lower Ordovician limestone in the vicinity of St. Petersburg yields a pole position at latitude 34.7°N, longitude 59.1°E (dp/dm=5.7°/6.4°). A probable primary remanence origin is supported by the presence of a field reversal. The limestone carries one other remanent magnetization component associated with a Mesozoic remagnetization event. An apparent polar wander path is compiled for Baltica including the new result, ranging in age from Vendian to Cretaceous. Ages of the published Lower to mid‐Palaeozoic palaeomagnetic pole positions are adjusted in accordance with the timescale of Tucker & McKerrow (1995). The new Arenig result is the oldest of a series of Ordovician and Silurian palaeomagnetic pole positions from limestones in the Baltic region. There are no data to constrain apparent polar wander for the Tremadoc, Cambrian and latest Vendian. If the Fen Complex results, previously taken to be Vendian in age (c. 565 Ma), are reinterpreted as Permian remagnetizations, an Early Ordovician–Cambrian–Vendian cusp in the polar wander path for Baltica is eliminated. The apparent polar wander curve might then traverse directly from poles for Vendian dykes on the Kola peninsula (c. 580 Ma) towards our new Arenig pole (c. 480 Ma). The consequence of this change in terms of the motion of Baltica in Cambrian times is to reduce significantly a rotational component of movement. The new Arenig pole extends knowledge of Ordovician apparent polar wander an increment back in time and confirms the palaeolatitude and orientation of Baltica in some published palaeogeographies. Exclusion of the Fen Complex result places Baltica in mid‐ to high southerly latitudes at the dawn of the Palaeozoic, consistent with faunal and sedimentological evidence but at variance with some earlier palaeomagnetic reconstructions.

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A palaeomagnetic study of Vendian red sediments from the Lena River section on the western margin of Lake Baikal in the region of Cisbaikalia (54°N, 108°E) has isolated a stable remanence with direction D = 296.3°, I = −27.7° (high‐temperature component) and a corresponding pole of 2.7°S, 168.2°E. The primary nature of this remanence is confirmed from a positive fold test, dual polarities and the presence of detrital haematite. This result, together with all late Precambrian–Early Cambrian palaeomagnetic data from Siberia, indicates that Siberia occupied low latitudes during that time. It has been proposed on the basis of palaeomagnetic data that Laurentia occupied high latitudes during the Vendian, so it would appear that there cannot have been any Laurentia–Siberia connection at that time. A review of Vendian to Cambrian Laurentian palaeomagnetic data shows that such an interpretation is ambiguous. An alternative interpretation places Laurentia in low latitudes and confirms the Laurentia–Siberia fit of Hoffman (1991) and Pelechaty (1996). However, the lack of Late Vendian palaeomagnetic data for Siberia still allows the possibility that it could have occupied high latitudes during that time.

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[1] Paleomagnetic results from an Upper Vendian sedimentary sequence exposed along the White Sea shoreline, NW Russia are described. These classical exposures have been the subject of intense paleontological investigations due to their well-preserved Ediacara fauna, but no paleomagnetic results have as yet been published. A total of 337 hand samples and 210 oriented drill cores (35 sites) along three profiles have been collected at the locality (65.5°, 40.0°E) where a 555 ± 3 Ma U-Pb age of comagmatic zircons from volcanic ash layers has been recently obtained. Standard paleomagnetic procedures yield two main natural remanent magnetization (NRM) components: an intermediate-temperature (150°-350°C), single-polarity component (D = 121°, I = 72°, n = 232 samples, k = 46.0, a 95 = 1.3°, pole position at 40.0°N, 79.0°E, dp = 2.0°, dm = 2.3°) and a high-temperature (550°-680°C) dual-polarity component (normal polarity: D = 278°, I = 43°, n = 54 samples, k = 25.2, a 95 = 3.9°, reversed polarity: D = 101°, I = À39°n = 40, K = 23.3, a 95 = 4.8°, south pole position at 24°S, 132°E, dp = 2.3°, dm = 3.8°). This latter component, termed Z, passes reversal, stratigraphic, and consistency tests and is interpreted to reflect the direction of the Earth's magnetic field during Late Vendian times. These results put Baltica into low northern latitudes (between 10°and 35°) and the resulting pole position requires modification of the most recent Apparent Polar Wander Paths (APWP) for Baltica.

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