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Type: Article
Published: 2020-10-30
Page range: 483–491
Abstract views: 282
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The oldest record of window fly supports a Gondwanan origin of the family (Diptera: Scenopinidae)

Univ. Rennes, CNRS, Geosciences Rennes, UMR 6118, F-35000, Rennes, France
Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB) Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP50, 57 rue Cuvier 75005 Paris, France
Diptera Scenopinidae Palaeobiogeography Burmese amber fossil record Proratinae mid-Cretaceous

Abstract

Palaeobiogeographic hypotheses need to be based on accurate palaeomaps and phylogenies of the concerned clades with a fossil record as complete as possible. Here we re-analyse the palaeobiogeography of the small fly family Scenopinidae, based on its first record in the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber that we describe herein as Burmaprorates alagracilis gen. et sp. nov. and we assign to the subfamily Proratinae. At that time, the corresponding palaeobiota was an isolated island in the Southern part of the Tethys Ocean far away from the Laurasian plate and with general wind circulation unfavorable for aerial transport from Laurasia to the “Burmese Terrane”. Our results challenge and question the hypothesis of a North-Central American origin for the Scenopinidae at the beginning of the Cretaceous, and support a new hypothesis of a South Gondwanan origin.

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