Palaeoentomology

New species of Clothodidae and Scelembiidae (Insecta: Embiodea) with diverse terminalia from Myanmar amber

SI-TING LIU, YU-YING LI, CHAO-FAN SHI, DONG REN, QIANG YANG — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300

Two new genera and three new species of webspinners, Electroclothoda aroliata gen. et sp. nov., Cretembia longimandibula gen. et sp. nov. and Parasorellembia grandiocula sp. nov., are described from the Upper Cretaceous of Myanmar amber. Electroclothoda aroliata gen. et sp. nov. is classified in the Clothodidae by having symmetrical male terminalia and an undivided tenth abdominal tergum. Cretembia longimandibula gen. et sp. nov. and Parasorellembia grandiocula sp. nov. are attributed to the Scelembiidae based on their distinctive terminalia: asymmetrical male terminalia, slender left cercus and robust, hook-shaped right cercus. Furthermore, a more detailed interpretation of terminalia architecture in Scelembiidae is provided.

Supplement to the Burmese (Myanmar) amber checklist and bibliography, 2025, with comments on the use of the terms ‘Kachin amber’ and ‘Burmite’

ANDREW J. ROSS — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300

This is a supplement to the Burmese (Myanmar) amber checklist and bibliography covering taxa described or recorded during 2025. Up to the end of 2025, 3,218 species have been recorded from Kachin amber (excluding trace fossils and marine encrusters), of which 225 were named in 2025; 25 species have been recorded from older Hkamti amber (4 named or recorded in 2025) and 2 species from younger Tilin amber. Another 12 species were named in 2025, though it is uncertain whether they are in Kachin or Hkamti amber. In total 240 species were named from Cretaceous amber from Myanmar in 2025. Caution should be employed when using the terms ‘Kachin amber’ and ‘Burmite’ because they are not equivalent to ‘Burmese amber’. ‘Kachin amber’ should only be used for amber from Kachin State.

First pholcommatine cobweb spider from Eocene Rovno amber, with a delimitation of the subfamily Pholcommatinae (Araneae: Theridiidae)

KIRILL Y. ESKOV, DMITRY D. VORONTSOV, YURI M. MARUSIK, EVGENY E. PERKOVSKY — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300

Rovnopholcomma wunderlichi gen. et sp. nov. is described from Eocene Rovno amber (Ukraine). The new genus is the closest relative of Succinura Wunderlich, 2008, known from the Eocene Baltic (Gdańsk Bay), Danish and Bitterfeld ambers. The controversial theridiid subfamily Pholcommatinae Simon, 1894 is here delimited and divided into two tribes: 1) Pholcommatini Simon, 1894, which includes the extant genus Pholcomma Thorell, 1869 and eight extinct genera, all known from the Eocene of Europe; and 2) Theonoini Simon, 1894, which includes the extant genera Theonoe Simon, 1881, Carniella Thaler & Steinberger, 1988 and Robertus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1879. One of the key diagnostic characters for the newly delimited Pholcommatinae is the presence of hooded trichobothrial bases, a unique feature within the family Theridiidae.

New dysmorphoptilids (Hemiptera: Dysmorphoptiloidea) from the Upper Triassic Potrerillos Formation, Cuyana Basin (Argentina)

MARÍA B. LARA, BÁRBARA CARIGLINO — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300

Two new dysmorphoptilid taxa, Dysmorphoptiloides devincenziae sp. nov. and D. brunneum sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Dysmorphoptilidae), are described from the Upper Triassic of the Potrerillos Formation, at the Quebrada del Durazno locality, south of Cerro Cacheuta, Mendoza Province, Argentina. Additionally, based on new morphological details observed in the supplementary material (CTES-PZ N° 7200) provided by Martins Neto et al. (2003), we emend the diagnosis and description of Dysmorphoptiloides acostai Martins-Neto & Gallego, 1999. The new species reported herein not only enrich the fossil record of the hemipteran fauna at the Quebrada del Durazno locality and Upper Triassic Potrerillos Formation, but also suggest that Dysmorphoptiloides was a well-diversified genus in Gondwana during the Middle–Late Triassic.

A new genus of paradoxosisyrine lacewings from mid-Cretaceous Hkamti amber (Neuroptera: Sisyridae)

MICHAEL S. ENGEL, ADOLF M. PERETTI — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300

The first siphonate Neuroptera are discovered from the Hkamti (Sagaing) mines of mid-Cretaceous amber in northern Myanmar. Two adults of Sisyridae (spongilla-flies or spongilla lacewings) were located in a single piece and belong to a new paradoxosisyrine genus near to Sidorchukatia Khramov. The new genus differs from the latter in wing venation, antennal structure, and other details of setation. Cherasisyra elegans gen. et sp. nov. is described and figured and general comments are made regarding the potential biology of Paradoxosisyrinae.

**Expanding the fossil record of Siinikaponera (Formicidae, Ponerinae): a new species from Oligo–Miocene Mexican amber**

FERNANDO VARELA-HERNÁNDEZ, ROBERTO J. GUERRERO — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300

A new species of the fossil ant genus Siinikaponera Varela-Hernández, Riquelme & Guerrero, 2025, Siinikaponera balana sp. nov., is described based on a single alate gyne preserved in amber from Montecristo, Chiapas, Mexico. This species exhibits the primary diagnostic features of Siinikaponera, particularly the presence of paired protruding clypeal lobes, mandibles with asymmetrical dentition, a pronotum bearing a relatively long neck-like extension, and a serrate flagellum. Siinikaponera balana sp. nov. differs from Siinikaponera sulimata Varela-Hernández, Riquelme & Guerrero, 2025, by possessing a petiole with a short peduncle, a petiolar node that is approximately as tall as it is long with anterior and posterior margins meeting at an acute angle, and a spur on the forelegs.

A bone lesion in a lizard from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300

Paleopathology is an interdisciplinary subject that focuses on evidence of injuries and pathological conditions in ancient animals. This paper reports the first documented case of a giant bone cell tumor within two digits of an amber-preserved lizard from the mid-Cretaceous of Myanmar. The amber specimen contains complete phalanges and distal metacarpal components that were imaged with micro-computed tomography (μCT) scanning, which revealed detailed morphological and pathological features. Morphological analysis indicates the specimen perhaps pertain to Anguimorpha, and show greater affinity to Paleoanguimorpha than to Neoanguimorpha. Comparative analysis with both extant and extinct Paleoanguimorpha species was conducted to establish its taxonomic position. The paleopathological analysis suggests this represents the first reported case of giant cell tumor/PVS found in an amber-preserved vertebrate.

A group of wax-bearing coccomorphans preserved together with a rove beetle and an aphidlion-like larva represents a possible case of predator-prey interaction in 100 million years old Kachin amber

JOACHIM T. HAUG, YAN-ZHE FU, ALEJANDRO CABALLERO, CAROLIN HAUG — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300

We here report an amber piece from Kachin amber, Myanmar, Cretaceous, about 100 million years old. It includes a group of 17 immatures of coccomorphans (scale insects) displaying wax, most likely for defensive purposes. In the same piece we found two possible predators of the coccomorphans: an adult rove beetle and an aphidlion-like larva with a fully assembled camouflaging cloak. Both possible predators are positioned very close to some of the coccomorphans, and no separate flows of amber seem to separate them. It therefore seems likely that this is a case of predators preserved together with their prey. Such cases of predator-prey interaction are still rare in amber, while other interactions, such as mating or parasitism, have been increasingly reported. A comparable case of aphids preserved together with an aphidlion has so far only been known from significantly younger Baltic amber. The here reported case seems to be the first one in which an aphidlion-like larva is preserved together with potential prey in Kachin amber, although quite a large number of such larvae have already been reported.

Description of the second European Cenozoic roproniid (Hymenoptera: Roproniidae) from the earliest Eocene Fur Formation, Denmark, with remarks on the family diagnosis

EVGENY E. PERKOVSKY, ALEXANDR P. RASNITSYN — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300

Roproniidae are treated here as a small family of approximately 25 extant species in four genera, apparently closely related to Proctorenyxidae. Clarifying the phylogenetic position of these two lineages within Proctotrupoidea remains a difficult and pressing task requiring broad, integrative analyses. The family is most diverse in eastern Asia, continental China (Shaanxi, Hunan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Sichuan, and one species near the Kachin border), Taiwan, Japan (Honshu, Hokkaido), Kunashir and southern Sakhalin (Townes, 1948; Yasumatsu, 1956, 1958; Lin, 1987; He & Chen, 1991; Yang, 1997; He & Xu, 2015). Three Nearctic species occur in the USA (both coasts) and southern Ontario (Townes, 1948; Porter, 2002). In the Western Palaearctic, two species are known from southern Turkey (Hatay and Karatepe; Madl, 2001). The first European fossil was described from the Paleocene of Menat, France (Garrouste et al., 2016). Named earlier fossil representatives of Roproniidae are otherwise limited to the Cretaceous Kachin amber (Engel & Huang, 2017) and four genera with five species in the extinct subfamily Beipiaosiricinae Hong, 1983 (Middle Jurassic–Early Cretaceous of China and Eastern Siberia) (Rasnitsyn, 1990; Zhang & Zhang, 2001). The present study adds a new roproniid from the Ypresian Fur Formation of the Limfjord region (Northern Jutland, Denmark), constituting the second Cenozoic and youngest European fossil representative of the family.

New Sycoracinae (Diptera: Psychodidae) from the Early Cretaceous Lebanese amber

HAIG TABAKIAN, YE-HAO WANG, DANY AZAR — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300

Lebanese amber provides one of the most significant windows to terrestrial arthropod diversity of the Early Cretaceous (Azar, 1997; Maksoud et al., 2022). Dated to approximately ~125 Ma (lower Barremian), these amber deposits have yielded an exceptionally rich and often very well preserved palaeofauna (Ross, 2010; Granier et al., 2016; Maksoud et al., 2017). To date, about 272 insect species in 108 families have been formally described from Lebanese amber, representing a broad spectrum of Lower Cretaceous entomofaunal diversity (Maksoud & Tabakian, 2025).

A new burmacoenagrionid damselfly (Odonata: Zygoptera) from the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber

XIN ZHANG, PEI-HAN LIU, HAO XIN, DA-RAN ZHENG — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300

The zygopteran family Burmacoenagrionidae Zheng, Nel & Wang, 2019 is endemic to the west Burma Block and occurring during the mid-Cretaceous (Zheng et al., 2019). It was considered to be a member of the Coenagrionoidea Kirby, 1890, which is the dominant group of the extant damselflies (Dijkstra et al., 2014). Four burmacoenagrionid genera have been previously described, including Burmacoenagrion Zheng, Nel & Wang, 2019, Burmagrion Möstel, Schorr & Bechly, 2017, Burmachistigma Zheng, Nel & Wang, 2019, and Electrocoenagrion Zheng, Nel & Wang, 2019 (Möstel et al., 2017; Zheng et al., 2019). This indicates that Burmacoenagrionidae is the most diversified zygopteran family currently recorded in the Kachin amber (Zheng, 2020).