An apterous Tubulifera (Insecta, Thysanoptera, Phlaeothripidae) preserved in Spanish Cretaceous amber

Abstract

ABSTRACT Tubuliferan Thysanoptera are extremely uncommon in the fossil record, thus little is our knowledge of their geological history. Here, we describe the first apterous Phlaeothripidae, and the eighth species of Tubulifera, for the entire Mesozoic. It corresponds to a small female preserved in Upper Albian amber of Peñacerrada II outcrop (Álava amber) in Spain. The specimen, described as Alavathrips moralesi nov. gen. et sp., has some critical well-preserved morphological features, as antennae, tarsi, female genital structures and the tube including its crown of apical setae. The Mesozoic tubuliferan family Rohrthripidae, known from the Barremian amber from Lebanon and the Cenomanian amber from Myanmar, is herein considered a junior synonym of Phlaeothripidae. The most relevant, ‘plesiomorphic’ feature of the new taxon is the proximal extreme of the tube not closed, but without a suture along the rest of the tube. The present discovery gives new insights into the origins and evolution of the species-rich extant family Phlaeothripidae, and the suborder Tubulifera.