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Issue: Vol. 5562 No. 1: 31 Dec. 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-12-31
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5562.1.4
Page range: 11-22
Abstract views: 234
PDF downloaded: 84

The first aquatic insect fossil from the Cenomanian Konservat-Lagerstätte of Haqel (Lebanon) fills a gap in the fossil record of giant water bugs (Heteroptera: Belostomatidae)

Institut de Systématique; Évolution; Biodiversité (UMR 7205) Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle; CNRS; Sorbonne Université; EPHE; Université des Antilles; F-75005 Paris; France; State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy; Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Nanjing; China
Institut de Systématique; Évolution; Biodiversité (UMR 7205) Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle; CNRS; Sorbonne Université; EPHE; Université des Antilles; F-75005 Paris; France
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy; Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Nanjing; China; Lebanese University; Faculty of Sciences II; Department of Natural Sciences; Fanar; P.O. Box 26110217; Fanar-Matn; Lebanon
Memory of Time; Byblos old sook; Byblos; Lebanon
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy; Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Nanjing; China; Lebanese University; Faculty of Sciences II; Department of Natural Sciences; Fanar; P.O. Box 26110217; Fanar-Matn; Lebanon
Hemiptera Heteroptera aquatic bug Nepomorpha fossil record mid-Cretaceous taxonomy lebanon

Abstract

Libanobelostoma calineae gen. et sp. nov., the first mid-Cretaceous giant water bug, is characterized, illustrated and described from the fossil fish Konservat-Lagerstätte of Haqel, Lebanon. This new discovery is important for both the fossil record of the Belostomatidae and for increasing our understanding of the paleoenvironment of Haqel. The new genus displays a combination of synapomorphies and symplesiomorphies for Belostomatidae, along with putative autapomorphies justifying its taxonomic treatment. Together with Libanoaeshna mikhaeli Azar et al., 2024 they represent the first insect discoveries in the fossil fish Konservat-Lagerstätte of Haqel, making it an additional palaeoentomological site to the numerous other sites in Lebanon.

 

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