Title
The wasp family Spathiopterygidae in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Hymenoptera: Diaprioidea)
Date Issued
01 February 2015
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Engel M.S.
Huang D.
Azar D.
Nel A.
Davis S.R.
Breitkreuz L.C.V.
University of Kansas
Publisher(s)
Elsevier Masson s.r.l.
Abstract
The extinct parasitoid wasp family Spathiopterygidae is recorded for the first time from the mid-Cretaceous amber deposits of northern Myanmar, often referred to as Burmese amber. The family was previously known only from three species in Spanish (Albian) and New Jersey (Turonian) ambers, representing an otherwise western Eurasia/eastern North America distribution. The discovery of a new genus and species, Diaspathion ortegai Engel and Huang, gen. et sp. nov., reveals a novel combination of traits seemingly intermediary between the Albian and Turonian taxa. Comparisons are made between the known species and a revised key to genera is provided, along with some general remarks about challenges facing the study of fossil parasitoid wasps.
Start page
95
End page
100
Volume
14
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencia veterinaria Paleontología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84925254130
Source
Comptes Rendus - Palevol
ISSN of the container
16310683
Sponsor(s)
We are thankful to Ryan C. McKellar and Vincent Perrichot for their helpful comments on an early draft of the manuscript. HDY would like to thank the National Basic Research Program of China ( 2012CB821903 ), Outstanding Youth Foundation of Jiangsu Province ( BK 2012049 ), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 91114201 ) for financial support. This is a contribution of the Division of Entomology, University of Kansas Natural History Museum, and to the team project, “Biodiversity: Origin, Structure, Evolution and Geology” granted to DA by the Lebanese University.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus