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Issue: Vol. 1 No. 2: May–June 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-06-24
DOI: 10.11646/mesozoic.1.2.5
Page range: 132–138
Abstract views: 2
PDF downloaded: 1

A new species of the family Praeaulacidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber

State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), MNHN, CNRS, SU, EPHE-PSL, UA, CP50, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75005 Paris, France; Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier (UMR 5554), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France; Géosciences Rennes (UMR 6118), Université de Rennes, CNRS, F-35000 Rennes, France
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Hymenoptera Evanioidea Apocrita new taxon parasitoid wasp taxonomy

Abstract

A new praeaulacid species, Habraulacus splendidus sp. nov., is described and illustrated based on a male specimen from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. This newly discovered taxon is, inter alia, characterised by its relatively low number of antennomeres (about 28) and its complex forewing venation (i.e., with both 2rs-m and 3rs-m present). Together with the recent discoveries of praeaulacid wasps from Kachin amber, this new species lets us assume that the family Praeaulacidae was well-diversified in Cretaceous forests. The subsequent decline of this family likely occurred either in the Late Cretaceous or, in a more optimistic scenario, during the Cenozoic era.

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