Abstract
Simple SummaryThe Upper Cretaceous amber of Myanmar (also known as Burmese amber) is almost 100 Mya old and represents invaluable source of information about the evolution of life in the late Mesozoic. Various groups of fossil flies (Diptera) belong to the most abundant insects found in these fossil resins indicating that it was the Mesozoic when the early evolution and radiation of Diptera took place. Here we describe a remarkable fossil fly which combines characters of various other related flies from different families (both extant and fossil) in a very unusual way. This new genus is tentatively placed in the family Keroplatidae (the so called predaceous fungus gnats) pending and stimulating further research into the evolution of lower Diptera. A new fossil genus and species of Keroplatidae (Diptera, Bibionomorpha, Sciaroidea), Adamacrocera adami gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber is described and illustrated. Based on morphological evidence, it is placed in a new subfamily Adamacrocerinae subfam. nov. The new genus, as well as the subfamily, possesses the wing venation characteristic of the genera of some Sciaroidea incertae sedis, as well as that of the fossil families Archizelmiridae, Antefungivoridae and Mesosciophilidae, in combination with macrocerine-like habitus and male terminalia.
Highlights
The family Keroplatidae is one of the most diverse families of Sciaroidea in the dipteran infraorderBibionomorpha [1], with nearly 1000 described extant species and about 50 fossil species, mostly fromBaltic amber and other Tertiary deposits [2]
The delimitation and systematic position of this Cretaceous genus is beyond the scope of this paper and will be the subject of a separate paper in preparation, covering an undescribed extant Oriental genus near Burmacrocera
We describe a new fossil genus of Keroplatidae, possessing a very unusual wing venation, leading us to the decision to establish a new subfamily for this genus
Summary
Bibionomorpha [1], with nearly 1000 described extant species and about 50 fossil species, mostly from. 130.0–125.5 mya), Schlueterimyia cenomanica [11] (Macrocerinae, Cretaceous amber of France) and Burmacrocera petiolata [12] (Macrocerinae, Cretaceous Burmese amber) The latter species was described by Cockerell [12] based on a single female and considered by him Insects 2020, 11, 552; doi:10.3390/insects11090552 www.mdpi.com/journal/insects. The mid Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar (Burmese amber) is considered as essential for understanding the origins and diversification of recent families of Sciaroidea [10] This amber contains various taxa of Keroplatidae and related families [8], the vast majority of them still remain undescribed or unrecorded. Most of these Cretaceous taxa belong to the subfamily Macrocerinae or they are unplaceable to a subfamily. We describe a new fossil genus of Keroplatidae, possessing a very unusual wing venation, leading us to the decision to establish a new subfamily for this genus
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