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Issue: Vol. 7 No. 6: December 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-12-20
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.7.6.13
Page range: 778-791
Abstract views: 46
PDF downloaded: 6

First records of Triassic Diptera (Insecta) from Africa

Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117647, Russia
Insecta Carnian Molteno Formation new taxa pupa Chironomidae Limoniidae

Abstract

Diptera often dominate fossil insect assemblages since the Jurassic but are much less common in the Triassic deposits, especially in the southern Pangaea, where only five species have previously been described—from Australia and Argentina. A single indeterminate Triassic dipteran from Africa has earlier been mentioned without a description. Herein, three dipteran pupae are described from the later Carnian Molteno Formation (Karoo Basin) in South Africa. One of these represents a new species of Metarchilimonia (Limoniidae), the genus previously known from the Norian Cow Branch Formation in the USA. The two other, incomplete pupae are placed in Chironomidae inc. sed. and Culicomorpha inc. sed. A complete list and a distribution map of Triassic Diptera are compiled, and the apparent geographical homogeneity of the Triassic dipterofauna is discussed.

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