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Issue: Vol. 8 No. 6: November–December 2025
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2025-12-29
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.6.7
Page range: 668–671
Abstract views: 124
PDF downloaded: 33

The first fossil caddisfly (Insecta: Trichoptera: Phryganeidae) of Anatolia, from the locality of Vitala of the Early Miocene of Kymi (Evia, Greece) and it’s palaeogeographic importance

The Open University, School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Walton Hall, Kents Hill, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, United Kingdom; Friedrich Alexander University, Department of Paleontology, Henkestraße 91, 91052 Erlangen Germany
Insecta Trichoptera Phryganeidae

Abstract

The fossil record of insects in Greece is particularly scarce, with the only known locations comprising Evia (Bachmayer et al., 1971, 1981) and Crete (Wappler et al., 2009), each with a very small number of specimens. However, the fidelity of certain insect orders prevents their preservation in certain settings that other orders may be represented. The order Trichoptera is scarcely represented in the fossil record compared to Diptera, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera which are more abundant in Cenozoic (Labandeira & Sepkoski, 1993). Additionally, larval cases of Trichoptera are more commonly preserved than body fossils. In this paper, I describe a new specimen belonging to Phryganeidae from the Vitala area of Kymi, a rare family for compressional fossil findings, based on a fossilized wing. Furthermore, this is the first record of a fossil trichopteran from the Early Miocene Anatolian landmass, an understudied palaeogeographic area for palaeoentomology.

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