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Issue: Vol. 8 No. 2: April 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-04-29
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.2.4
Page range: 138-146
Abstract views: 12
PDF downloaded: 2

A new genus of the extinct family †Holopsenellidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata) from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, 04263-000 São Paulo, Brazil; Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, 14040-901 Ribeirão Preto, Brazil; Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, 81530-980 Curitiba, Brazil
Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, 81530-980 Curitiba, Brazil
Hymenoptera Aculeata fossils Mesozoic sting taxonomy wasp

Abstract

Aculeata is a clade including all ants, bees, and a large array of stinging wasps. In recent years, the systematics of these groups has been changed substantially by molecular phylogenetics, directly impacting our understanding about their evolution. Regardless, the paleontology of Aculeata still imposes many challenges, including enigmatic groups that cannot be confidently linked to any extant lineage. One of these lineages corresponds to the family †Holopsenellidae, which represents one of the earliest representatives of Aculeata in the fossil record. The single known genus, †Holopsenella, was first described from Early Cretaceous Lebanese amber, being also recorded in the younger Burmese amber. In the present work, we describe †Typhopsenella obscura gen. et sp. nov., based on an inclusion from Burmese amber, representing the second genus known for the family. This wasp is remarkable for its size, being far larger than †Holopsenella and also in relation to the overall size of wasps described from amber inclusions. Further evidence supporting the removal of †Holopsenellidae from Chrysidoidea is raised. Novel records of the family may turn out to be imperative for understanding its phylogenetic affinities among other stinging wasps.

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