Abstract
Simple SummaryThis study contributes to knowledge of the diversity of tertiary fossil flies of the group Acalyptratae. A new family Clusiomitidae is described on the basis of seven (four new) species from Baltic amber inclusions (Eocene, ca 48–34 Ma) belonging to two genera, Clusiomites gen. nov. and Acartophthalmites Hennig, 1965. Discovery of a new acalyptrate family in Baltic amber indicates an unusually rich diversity of this group in the so called “amber forest” covering a vast area of Europe in the Eocene climatic optimum.The Eocene Baltic amber fossil flies of the genus Acartophthalmites Hennig, 1965 (Diptera: Acalyptratae) are revised. Seven species are recognized and described or redescribed. Five species, A. crassipes sp. nov., A. luridus sp. nov., A. rugosus sp. nov., A. tertiaria Hennig, 1965 (type species) and A. willii Pérez-de la Fuente, Hoffeins et Roháček, 2018 are retained in Acartophthalmites while Clusiomites gen. nov. is described for two other species, C. clusioides (Roháček, 2016) comb. nov. (type species) and C. ornatus sp. nov. Relationships of these fossil taxa are discussed and, because they cannot be confidently placed in any known family of Diptera, a new family, Clusiomitidae, is established for them. Clusiomitidae is recognized as a family of Opomyzoidea, probably most closely allied to Clusiidae. These results again confirmed that the diversity of acalyptrate flies was very high in the Mid-late Eocene amber forest.
Highlights
Acalyptratae is a relatively young paraphyletic taxon of two-winged flies (Diptera) belonging to Schizophora
The oldest fossil records of Acalyptratae are from the Eocene Baltic amber, cf. [1,2,3,4,5,6]
The majority of extant families of Acalyptratae were well-represented in the Baltic amber in addition to members of several extinct families only known from these amber fossils [13]
Summary
Acalyptratae is a relatively young paraphyletic taxon of two-winged flies (Diptera) belonging to Schizophora. And surprisingly, the acalyptrate flies were already unexpectedly diverse in this amber period (Mid-late Eocene, 48–34 Ma, see [7,8] and habitat (the so called Baltic amber forest, see [9,10,11,12]). The majority of extant families of Acalyptratae were well-represented in the Baltic amber in addition to members of several extinct families only known from these amber fossils [13]. Two additional ancient acalyptrate families, the Hoffeinsmyiidae Michelsen, 2008 and Yantaromyiidae Barták, 2019, have recently been described from Baltic amber [14,15]; there are some further extinct genera and species of which the family affiliation remains uncertain. As demonstrated by a revisionary study of fossil Anthomyzidae [16] and its subsequent additions [17,18,19], the species diversity of some acalyptrate families was even richer in the Eocene amber forest than today in the whole of Europe
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