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Issue: Vol. 2 No. 2: June 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-06-30
DOI: 10.11646/mesozoic.2.2.6
Page range: 163-173
Abstract views: 21
PDF downloaded: 10

On two rare wasps (Hymenoptera: Ohlhoffiidae; Panguidae) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber

State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China; Oxford University Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PW, UK
Hymenoptera Ohlhoffiidae Panguidae Apocrita Burmese amber morphological variability Panguoidea Stephanoidea

Abstract

The Kachin amber biota is one of the most extensively studied and well-documented ecosystems of the Cretaceous, with over 2,000 arthropod species described to date. Among these are the Ohlhoffiidae, a family of stephanoid wasps currently known from four species, two from Kachin amber and two from the La Pedrera de Rúbies Formation in Spain. Despite their distinctiveness, little is known about their true diversity, biology, or intraspecific morphological variation. Here, we describe a new species of Ohlhoffia Jouault et al. 2020, as Ohlhoffia minuta sp. nov. which offers new insights into morphological variability within the family. We also report and illustrate a panguid wasp specimen identified as Pangu yuangu Li et al. 2019. Members of the Panguidae are known from both Wealden and Kachin ambers, yet like the Ohlhoffiidae, they remain poorly understood, with limited data available on their diversity and morphological variation at the species level.

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