A Primitive Aphidiine Wasp in Albian Amber from Spain and a Northern Hemisphere Origin for the Subfamily (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae)

Abstract

A description of a new genus and species of braconid, Archephedrus stolamissus, from Early Cretaceous (Albian) amber from Moraza-Penacerrada I (Spain) is here provided. This is the first fossil Aphidiinae described in Cretaceous amber. The fossil has some typical characters of the subfamily but possesses a unique assemblage of characters among aphidiines, such as a fairly robust abdomen, with a more pronounced articulation between the first and second, instead of the second and third, metasomal segments, as well as several wing venational traits. The distribution of this and other aphidiine fossils, as well as their putative phylogenetic placement as basal among Aphidiinae, is discussed, supporting a Northern rather than Southern Hemisphere origin for the lineage.