Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 7 No. 2: April 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-04-19
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.7.2.11
Page range: 277-283
Abstract views: 79
PDF downloaded: 4

A new genus and species of Apsilocephalidae (Asiloidea) with elongated mouthparts from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China
College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, China; Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 20013-7012, USA
College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, China
Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China
Asiloidea Insecta Diptera mid-Cretaceous mouthpart feeding habit

Abstract

A new genus and species, Creapsilocephala nagatomii gen. et sp. nov. assigned to the enigmatic family Apsilocephalidae, was described from Mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. The details of mouthpart structures in the new species are well preserved, revealing the non-piercing mouthparts that comprise an elongated labrum and tube-like hypopharynx, a pair of slender pointed laciniae, one-segmented palp, and prolonged labium. According to the analysis of mouthpart features, the food tube of the new species is constituted by the labrum and hypopharynx, which supports a nectar-feeding habit. This new finding enriches the species diversity of Cretaceous Apsilocephalidae and enhances the knowledge of the early biological features in this family.

References

  1. Cui, Y.Y., Bardin, J., Wipfler, B., Demers-Potvin, A., Bai, M., Tong, Y.J., Chen, G.N., Chen, H.R., Zhao, Z.Y., Ren, D. & Béthoux, O. (2024) A winged relative of ice‐crawlers in amber bridges the cryptic extant Xenonomia and a rich fossil record. Insect Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.13338
  2. Cumming, J.M. & Wood, D.M. (2017) Adult morphology and terminology. In: Kirk-Spriggs, A.H. & Sinclair, B.J. (Eds), Manual of Afrotropical Diptera. Volume 1. Introductory chapters and keys to Diptera families. Suricata 4, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, pp. 89–133.
  3. Gaimari, S.D. & Mostovski, M. B. (2000) Burmapsilocephala cockerelli, a new genus and species of Asiloidea (Diptera) from Burmese amber. Bulletin of the Natural History Museum (Geology), 56, 43–46.
  4. Greenwalt, D.E., Amorim, D.S., Hauser, M., Kerr, P.H., Fitzgerald, S.J., Winterton, S.L., Cumming, J.M., Evenhuis, N.L. & Sinclair, B.J. (2022) Diptera of the Middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation II. Palaeontologia Electronica, 25, 1–52. https://doi.org/10.26879/1215
  5. Grimaldi, D.A. (2016) Diverse Orthorrhaphan flies (Insecta: Diptera: Brachycera) in amber from the Cretaceous of Myanmar: Brachycera in Cretaceous amber, Part VII. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 408, 1–131. https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0090-408.1.1
  6. Grimaldi, D.A., Arillo, A., Cumming, J.M. & Hauser, M. (2011) Brachyceran Diptera (Insecta) in Cretaceous ambers, part IV, significant new orthorrhaphous taxa. ZooKeys, 148, 293–332. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.148.1809
  7. Hauser, M. & Irwin, M.E. (2005) Fossil Therevidae (Insecta: Diptera) from Florissant, Colorado (Upper Eocene). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 3, 393–401. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1477201905001690
  8. Hauser, M. (2007) Baltic amber Therevidae and Apsilocephalidae (Diptera). Studia Dipterologica, 14, 37–59.
  9. Hennig, W. (1967) Therevidae aus dem baltischen Bernstein mit einigen Bemerkungen über Asilidae und Bombyliidae (Diptera, Brachycera). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, 176, 1–14.
  10. Kröber, O. (1914) Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Thereviden und Omphal-iden. Jahrbuch der Hamburger Wissenschaftlichen Anstalt, 31, 29–74.
  11. Liu, Z.J., Huang, D.Y., Cai, C.Y. & Wang, X. (2018) The core eudicot boom registered in Myanmar amber. Scientific Reports, 8, 16765. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35100-4
  12. Nagatomi, A., Saigusa, T., Nagatomi, H. & Lyneborg, L. (1991) Apsilocephalidae, a new family of the orthorrhaphous Brachycera (Insecta, Diptera). Zoological Science, 8, 579–591.
  13. Peñalver, E., Arillo, A., Peréz-de la Fuente, R., Riccio, M.L., Delclòs, X., Barrón, E. & Grimaldi, D.A. (2015) Long-proboscid flies as pollinators of Cretaceous gymnosperms. Current Biology, 25, 1917–1923. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.05.062
  14. Poinar, G.O., Jr. & Chambers, K.L. (2017) Tropidogyne pentaptera sp. nov., a new mid-Cretaceous fossil angiosperm flower in Burmese amber. Palaeodiversity, 10, 135–140. https://doi.org/10.18476/pale.v10.a10
  15. Poinar, G.O., Jr. & Vega, F.E. (2021) A new genus of Apsilocephalidae (Diptera) in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Biosis: Biological Systems, 2, 183–190. https://doi.org/10.37819/biosis.002.01.0091
  16. Shi, C., Wang, S., Cai, H.H., Zhang, H.R., Long, X.X., Tihelka, E., Song, W.C., Feng, Q., Jiang, R.X., Cai, C.Y., Lombard, N., Li, X., Yuan, J., Zhu, J.P., Yang, H.Y., Liu, X.F., Xiang, Q.P., Zhao, Z.T., Long, C.L., Schneider, H., Zhang, X.C., Peng, H., Li, D.Z., Fan, Y., Engel, M.S., Wang, Y.D. & Spicer. R.A. (2022) Fire-prone Rhamnaceae with South African affinities in Cretaceous Myanmar amber. Nature Plants, 8, 125–135. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-021-01091-w
  17. Shi, G.H., Grimaldi, D.A., Harlow, G.E., Wang, J., Wang, J., Yang, M.C., Lei, W.Y., Li, Q.L. & Li, X.H. (2012) Age constraint on Burmese amber based on U-Pb dating of zircons. Cretaceous Research, 37, 155‒163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2012.03.014
  18. Solórzano-Kraemer, M.M. & Cumming, J.M. (2019) New genera of brachyceran flies (Diptera: Xylomyidae and Apsilocephalidae) from mid-Cretaceous Hukawng Valley Burmese amber. Palaeoentomology, 2 (3), 251–261. https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.2.3.10
  19. Wang, J.J., Zhang, W.T., Engel, M.S., Sheng, X.Y., Shih, C. & Ren, D. (2022) Early evolution of wing scales prior to the rise of moths and butterflies. Current Biology, 32, 3808–3814. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.086
  20. White, A. (1914) Families Leptidae, Stratiomyidae, Nemestrinidae and Cyrtidae. In: The Diptera-Brachycera of Tasmania. Part I. Papers & Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, pp. 35–74. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.19950
  21. Winterton, S.L. & Irwin, M.E. (2008) Kaurimyia gen. nov.: discovery of Apsilocephalidae (Diptera: Therevoid clade) in New Zealand. Zootaxa, 1779, 38–44. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1779.1.3
  22. Winterton, S.L. & Gaimari, S.D. (2017) Scenopinidae. In: Kirk-Spriggs, A.H. & Sinclair, B.J. (Eds), Manual of Afrotropical Diptera. Volume 2. Nematocerous Diptera and lower Brachycera. Suricata 5, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, pp. 1209–1219.
  23. Yeates, D.K., Irwin M.E. & Wiegmann, B.M. (2003) Ocoidae, a new family of asiloid flies (Diptera: Brachycera: Asiloidea), based on Ocoa chilensis gen. and sp. n. from Chile, South America. Systematic Entomology, 28, 417–431. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3113.2003.00224.x
  24. Ye, X.N., Yang, G., Shih, C., Ren, D. & Wang, Y.J. (2019) New bee flies from the mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber (Brachycera: Asiloidea: Bombyliidae). Cretaceous Research, 100, 5–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2019.03.026
  25. Zhang, H.Q., Shih, C., Ren, D. & Wang, Y.J. (2020) New Alavesia species from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber highlight genitalic structural homology (Diptera: Empidoidea: Atelestidae). Cretaceous Research, 116, 104573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104573
  26. Zhang, Q.Q., Li, X.K., Xu, B.Q., Zhu, Y.M., Lu, R.Q., Wang, B. & Yeates, D.K. (2018) Two new genera of Apsilocephalidae from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Cretaceous Research, 84, 525–532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.11.026
  27. Zhang, Y.J., Rasnitsyn, A.P., Zhang, W.W., Song, F., Shih, C., Ren, D., Wang, Y.J., Li, H. & Gao, T.P. (2024) Stem chewing lice on Cretaceous feathers preserved in amber. Current Biology, 36, 916–922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.027