A new genus and species of Stenurothripidae (Insecta: Thysanoptera: Terebrantia) from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber

Abstract

A new genus and species of thrips, Cenomanithrips primus gen et sp. nov., is described and assigned to the extant family Stenurothripidae of Thysanoptera. The new taxon is established primarily based on the following characters: pronotum with lateral, posteromarginal and posteroangular setae; forewing slender, narrow at apex, surface with microtrichia, two longitudinal veins present, only one cross-vein between the two longitudinal veins, with one seta on posterior vein basal to this cross-vein, anterior vein without setae, right forewing posterior vein with three setae, left forewing posterior vein with only one seta; hind wing with one longitudinal vein, fore tarsus 2-segmented, without a hamus and the terminal abdominal segment is not tube-like. The new amber thrips is the first fossil record of Stenurothripidae in Myanmar (Burmese) amber hitherto, dating to the mid-Cretaceous. Other fossil records of Stenurothripidae are in the Lower Cretaceous Spanish and Lebanese amber, in the Eocene Baltic, Bitterfeld and Rovno amber, and in the Miocene Bitterfeld amber. This new finding not only broadens the distribution and diversity of fossil Stenurothripidae, but also provides important morphological characters to enhance our understanding of the early evolutionary development of the Stenurothripidae.