Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2024-04-19
Page range: 221-223
Abstract views: 2
PDF downloaded: 0

A rare Plecia Wiedemann, 1828 (Diptera: Bibionidae) from the Paleocene of Menat, 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
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 Bibionidae

Abstract

The fly family Bibionidae is extremely frequently found in the lacustrine insect assemblages between the late Eocene and the latest Miocene of France. For instance, the Bibionidae represent 25% of the fossil insects collected at Cereste (total 7,466 specimens, Oligocene, Lubéron, France) (Nel, 1991). It is not the case in the Paleocene lacustrine Konservat-Lagerstätte of Menat (Puy-de-Dôme, France). In this outcrop, we could find only four specimens of Bibionidae in a collection of ca. 6,768 insects. Two of these were previously described by Nel (2007) and Nel & Kundura (2023), respectively in the genera Plecia and Bibio. They are so rare, around 0.1% of the total number of insects in the collections we could study, that it is worth describing the two others herein. These specimens were in the studied collection but we did not notice them before now.

References

  1. Kedves, M. & Russell, D.E. (1982) Palynology of the Thanetian layers of Menat. The geology of the Menat Basin, France. Palaeontographica, (B), 182, 87–150.
  2. Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema naturae per regna tria naturae secundum classes, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima reformata. L. Salvii, Holmiae [= Stockholm], 824 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.542
  3. Nel, A. (1991) Analyse d’entomofaunes cénozoïques. Intérêt de la paléoentomologie pour les cciences de la terre et de la vie. [Thèse de Doctorat] (nouveau régime), Université de Reims-Champagne-Ardenne, 882 pp.
  4. Nel, A. (2007) Les Bibionidae du Paléocène de Menat (Puy-de-Dôme, France) (Diptera). Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France, 112, 369–370. https://doi.org/10.3406/bsef.2007.16447
  5. Nel, A. (2008) The oldest bee fly in the French Paleocene (Diptera: Bombyliidae). Comptes Rendus Palevol, 7, 401–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2008.08.001
  6. Nel, A. & Kundura, J.-P. (2023) The oldest Bibio Geoffroy, 1762 (Diptera: Bibionidae) from the Paleocene of Menat (France). Palaeoentomology, 6 (3), 226–229. https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.6.3.3
  7. Newman, E. (1834) Attempted division of British insects into natural orders. Entomological Magazine, 2, 379–431.
  8. Skartveit, J. & Nel, A. (2017) Revision of fossil Bibionidae (Insecta: Diptera) from French Oligocene deposits. Zootaxa, 4225 (1), 1–83. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4225.1.1
  9. Skartveit, J. & Wedmann, S. (2015) Fossil Bibionidae (Insecta: Diptera) from the Eocene of Grube Messel, Germany. Studia Dipterologica, 22, 77–83.
  10. Skartveit, J. & Wedmann, S. (2021) A revision of fossil Bibionidae (Insecta: Diptera) from the Oligocene of Germany. Zootaxa, 4909 (1), 1–77. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4909.1.1
  11. Wappler, T., Currano, E.D., Wilf, P., Rust, J. & Labandeira, C.C. (2009) No post-Cretaceous ecosystem depression in European forests? Rich insect-feeding damage on diverse middle Palaeocene plants, Menat, France. Proceedings of the Royal Society, (B), 276, 4271–4277. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.1255
  12. Wedmann, S. (1998) Taphonomie der Bibionidae (Insecta: Diptera) aus der oberoligozänen Fossillagerstätte Enspel (Deutschland). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte, 1998 (9), 513–528. https://doi.org/10.1127/njgpm/1998/1998/513
  13. Wedmann, S., Uhl, D., Lehman, T., Garrouste, R., Nel, A., Gomez, B., Smith, K. & Schaal, S.F.K. (2018) The Konservat-Lagerstätte Menat (Paleocene; France)—an overview and new insights. Geologica Acta, 16, 1–31.
  14. Wiedemann, C.R.W. (1828) Aussereuropäische zweiflügelige Insekten. Als Fortsetzung des Meigenschen Werks. Erster Theil. Schulz, Hamm, xxxii + 608 pp.