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Type: Short Communication
Published: 2018-12-28
Page range: 47–50
Abstract views: 112
PDF downloaded: 1

First male of Corethrella andersoni Poinar & Szadziewski, 2007 (Diptera: Corethrellidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 59, PL 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland.
Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 59, PL 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland.
Cretaceous Myanmar inclusion frog-biting midge

Abstract

The family Corethrellidae, called frog-biting midges, with the single genus Corethrella Coquillett, 1902, is a small group of dipterans including 107 extant species (Borkent, 2017). Females of most species are haematophagous and feed on males of frogs and toads locating them by their calls (Borkent, 2008). Extant frog-biting midges have a pantropical distribution, absent in Europe, north Africa, middle and northern Asia (Giłka & Szadziewski, 2009). The genus during its phylogenetic history dated back to Lower Cretaceous (125–129 Ma) had a broader geographical distribution, and during Eocene was present in Europe. Till now nine fossil species have been described from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber (1), mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (1), Eocene Baltic amber (5) and Miocene Dominican amber (2) (a complete annotated list is provided below).

 

References

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