Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2026-09-24
Page range: 440-449
Abstract views: 152
PDF downloaded: 7

First Eoptychopterina (Diptera: Ptychopteridae) from the Jurassic of Europe, with taxonomic notes on Eoptychopterininae and Eoptychopterinae

Borissiak Paleontological Institute; Russian Academy of Sciences; Moscow 117647; Russia
Institute of Geography and Geology; University of Greifswald; Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Straße 17a; D-17487 Greifswald; Germany
Diptera Ptychopteridae fossil Mesozoic Toarcian Germany Daohugou China new synonyms

Abstract

The first Early Jurassic and oldest species of Eoptychopterina is described based on an isolated wing from the early Toarcian Grimmen Fm of Germany. It is the first record of the genus from Jurassic deposits of Europe. The new species demonstrates the stability of the wing venation of Eoptychopterina during the Mesozoic over about 50 million years, extending the geographical and temporal range of the genus. The following Jurassic species from Daohugou (China, J2-3) are regarded here as synonyms: Eoptychopterina adnexa syn. nov. and E. postica syn. nov. as junior synonyms of E. elenae from the same locality; and E. antica syn. nov. and E. mediata syn. nov. as junior synonyms of Eoptychopterina kaluginae from the Shar Teg locality (Mongolia, J3). Eoptychopterina gigantea from Daohugou is considered as a valid species. A distribution map of Eoptychopterina and a key for species are provided. The genus Neuseptychoptera from amber of North Carolina (USA, K2) is regarded here as a member of the extant subfamily Ptychopterinae.

References

  1. Ansorge, J. (1996) Insekten aus dem oberen Lias von Grimmen (Vorpommern, Norddeutschland). Neue Paläontologische Abhandlungen, 2, 1–132.
  2. Ansorge, J. (2003) Insects from the Lower Toarcian of Middle Europe and England. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 46 (suppl.—Fossil Insects), 291–310.
  3. Ansorge, J., Franz, M., Götz, A.E., Obst, K., Reich, M., Ruebsam, W. & Schwark, L. (2025) Stratigraphy and palaeoecology of the Toarcian in NE Germany: organo-detrital and detrital sedimentation in response to the productivity of the planktic ecosystem. Paläontologische Zeitschrift. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-025-00718-z
  4. Arzhannikova, A.V., Frolov, A.O., Arzhannikov, S.G., Demonterova, E.I., Ivanov, A.V., Jolivet, M., Rubtsova, M.N. & Dorozhko, A.L. (2018) Jurassic sediments in the Irkut basin and southwestern Transbaikalia: correlations based on paleobotanical and geochronological data. Russian Geology and Geophysics, 59, 620–634. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rgg.2018.05.003
  5. Bode, A. (1953) Die Insektenfauna des ostniedersächsischen Oberen Lias. Palaeontographica A, 103 (1-4), 1–375.
  6. Dong, F., Shih C., Skibińska, K., Krzemiński, W. & Ren, D. (2015) New species of Tanyderidae (Diptera) from the Jiulongshan Formation of China. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology, 39 (4), 494–507. https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2015.1041308
  7. Eskov, K.Y. & Lukashevich, E.D. (2015) On the history of ranges of two relict nematoceran families, Ptychopteridae and Tanyderidae (Insecta: Diptera): a biogeographical puzzle. Russian Entomological Journal, 24 (3), 257–270. https://doi.org/10.15298/rusentj.24.3.08
  8. Fasbender, A.W. & Courtney, G.W. (2017) A revision of Bittacomorphinae with a review of the monophyly of extant subfamilies of Ptychopteridae (Diptera). Zootaxa, 4309 (1), 1–69. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4309.1.1
  9. Gao, T., Shih, C., Engel, M.S. & Ren, D. (2016) A new xyelotomid (Hymenoptera) from the Middle Jurassic of China displaying enigmatic venational asymmetry. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 16, 155. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0730-0
  10. Geinitz, F.E. (1887) Neue Aufschlüsse der Flözformation Mecklenburgs. IX. Beitrag zur Geologie Mecklenburgs. IV. Jura. Archiv des Vereins der Freunde der Naturgeschichte in Mecklenburg, 41, 194–208.
  11. Handlirsch, A. (1906–1908) Die fossilen Insekten und die Phylogenie der rezenten Formen. Engelmann, Leipzig, 1430 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.5636
  12. Handlirsch, A. (1920) Kapitel 7. Palaeontologie (part) [Lieferung 5]. In: Schroeder, C.W.M. (Ed.), Handbuch der Entomologie. Band III. G. Fischer, Jena, pp. 117–208.
  13. Handlirsch, A. (1939) Neue Untersuchungen über die fossilen Insekten mit Ergänzungen und Nachträgen sowie Ausblicken auf phylogenetische, palaeogeographische und allgemein biologische Probleme. II Teil. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien, 49, 1–240.
  14. Hao, J.Y., Ren, D. & Shih, C.K. (2009) New fossils of Eoptychopteridae (Diptera) from the Middle Jurassic of northeastern China. Acta Geologica Sinica, 83 (2), 222–228. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-6724.2009.00022.x
  15. He, M.S. & Liu, Y.S. (2025) Two new species of Ptychopteridae (Insecta: Diptera) from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China. Historical Biology, 38 (6), 1824–1833. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2025.2557948
  16. Heads, S., Thuy, B. & Tamarri, J. (2022) Two new species of Archelcana Sharov (Orthoptera: Elcanidae) from the Lower Jurassic of Luxembourg. Kentiana, 1, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.21900/j.kentiana.n1.1121
  17. Kalugina, N.S. (1989) New psychodomorphic dipteran insects from the Mesozoic of Siberia (Diptera: Eoptychopteridae, Ptychopteridae). Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 1, 65–77.
  18. Kalugina, N.S. & Kovalev, V.G. (1985) Dvukrylye nasekomye yury Sibiri [Jurassic Diptera of Siberia]. Nauka, Moscow, 198 pp. [In Russian]
  19. Kirichkova, A.I. & Doludenko, M.P. (1996). New data on the Jurassic phytostratigraphy in Kazakhstan. Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation, 5, 450–466.
  20. Krzemiński, W. & Ansorge, J. (1995) New Upper Jurassic Diptera (Limoniidae, Eoptychopteridae) from the Solnhofen Lithographic Limestone (Bavaria, Germany). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Ser. B, 221, 1–7.
  21. Lin, Q.B. & Lukashevich, E.D. (2006) Proptychopterina (Diptera: Eoptychopteridae) from the Jurassic of Northeastern China. Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 3, 56–60. [Translated in English in Paleontological Journal, 2006, 40 (3), 290–294] https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030106030099
  22. Liu, L.X., Shih, C.K. & Ren, D. (2012) Two new species of Ptychopteridae and Trichoceridae from the Middle Jurassic of northeastern China (Insecta: Diptera: Nematocera). Zootaxa, 3501, 55–62. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3501.1.2
  23. Lukashevich, E.D. (1993) New Eoptychopteridae (Diptera: Psychodomorpha) from the Jurassic of Asia. Paleontological Journal, 27 (1A), 103–123.
  24. Lukashevich, E.D. (2004) Revision of the genus Eoptychopterina (Diptera: Eoptychopteridae). Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 3, 60–71. [Translated in English in Paleontological Journal, 2004, 38 (3), 294–306]
  25. Lukashevich, E.D. (2008) Ptychopteridae (Insecta: Diptera): the history of study and limits of the family. Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 1, 68–77. [Translated in English Paleontological Journal, 42 (1), 66–74] https://doi.org/10.1007/s11492-008-1011-1
  26. Lukashevich, E.D. (2012) Phylogeny of Ptychopteroidea (Insecta: Diptera). Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal, 6, 32–40. [Translated in English Paleontological Journal, 46 (5), 474–484] https://doi.org/10.1134/S003103011205005X
  27. Lukashevich, E. D. & Ansorge, J. (2024). First Upper Triassic Diptera (Insecta) from Germany. Zootaxa, 5403 (1), 115–129. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5403.1.8.
  28. Lukashevich, E., Ansorge, J., Krzemiński, W. & Krzemińska, E. (1998) Revision of Eoptychopterinae (Insecta: Diptera, Eoptychopteridae). Polskie Pismo Entomologiczne, 67 (3-4), 311–343.
  29. Lukashevich, E.D. & Arillo, A. (2016) New Eoptychoptera (Insecta: Diptera, Ptychopteridae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain. Cretaceous Research, 58, 254–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2015.10.013
  30. Lukashevich, E.D., Coram, R.A. & Jarzembowski, E.A. (2001) New true flies (Insecta: Diptera) from the Lower Cretaceous of Southern England. Cretaceous Research, 22, 451–460. https://doi.org/10.1006/cres.2001.0265
  31. Lukashevich, E.D. & Krzemiński, W. (2009) New Jurassic Tanyderidae (Diptera) from Asia with first find of larvae. Zoosymposia, 3, 155–172. https://doi.org/10.11646/zoosymposia.3.1.13
  32. Osten Sacken, C.R. (1862) Note. In: Loew, H., Monographs of the Diptera of North America. Part I. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 6, pp. 11–13. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.1718
  33. Ren, D. & Krzemiński, W. (2002) Eoptychopteridae (Diptera) from the Middle Jurassic of China. Annales Zoologici, 52 (2), 207–210.
  34. Savchenko, E.N. (1986) Limoniidae (general characterization, subfamilies Pediciinae and Hexatominae). In: Fauna of Ukraine, 4: Nematoceran Diptera, 2. Naukova Dumka, Kyiv, 380 pp. [In Russian]
  35. Shao, J.Q. & Kang, Z.H. (2021) New species of the genus Ptychoptera Meigen, 1803 (Diptera, Ptychopteridae) from Zhejiang, China with an updated key to Chinese species. ZooKeys, 1070, 87–99. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1070.67779
  36. Shcherbakov, D.E., Lukashevich, E.D. & Blagoderov, V.A. (1995) Triassic Diptera and initial radiation of the order. International Journal of Dipterological Research, 6 (2), 75–115.
  37. Swaby, E.J., Coe, A.L., Ansorge, J., Caswell, B.A., Hayward, S.A.L., Mander, L., Stevens, L.G. & McArdle, A. (2024) The fossil insect assemblage associated with the Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) oceanic anoxic event from Alderton Hill, Gloucestershire, UK. PLoS ONE, 19 (4), e0299551. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299551
  38. Szadziewski, R., Krynicki, V.E. & Krzemiński, W. (2018) The latest record of the extinct subfamily Eoptychopterinae (Diptera: Ptychopteridae) from Upper Cretaceous amber of North Carolina. Cretaceous Research, 82, 147–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.10.011
  39. Török, E., Kolcsár, L.-P., Dénesi, A.-L. & Keresztes, L. (2015) Morphologies tells more than molecules in the case of the European widespread Ptychoptera albimana (Fabricius, 1787) (Diptera, Ptychopteridae). North-Western Journal of Zoology, 11 (2), 304–315.
  40. Vršanský, P. (2005) Mass mutations of insects at the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary? Geologica Carpathica, 56 (6), 473–481.
  41. Xu, M.M., Peng, B. & Huang, D.Y. (2026). A new species of Proptychopterina (Diptera: Nematocera: Ptychopteridae) from the Middle Jurassic of the Jiyuan Basin, China. Mesozoic, 3 (2), 177–184. https://doi.org/10.11646/mesozoic.3.2.4
  42. Zessin, W. (1987) Variabilität, Merkmalswandel und Phylogenie der Elcanidae im Jungpaläozoikum und Mesozoikum und die Phylogenie der Ensifera (Orthopteroida, Ensifera). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, 34, 1–76.
  43. Zhang, J.F. (2004) A new gigantic species of Eoptychopterina (Diptera: Eoptychopteridae) from Jurassic of northeastern China. Oriental Insects, 38 (1), 173–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/00305316.2004.10417384