Abstract
Long-proboscid scorpionflies are enigmatic, mid-Mesozoic insects associated with gymnosperm pollination. One major lineage, Aneuretopsychina, consists of four families plus two haustellate clades, Diptera and Siphonaptera. One clade, Pseudopolycentropodidae, from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber, contains Parapolycentropus. Here, we newly establish Dualula, assigned to Dualulidae, constituting the fifth lineage. Parapolycentropus and Dualula lineages are small, two-winged, with unique siphonate mouthparts for imbibing pollination drops. A cibarial pump provides siphonal food inflow; in Dualula, the siphon base surrounds a hypopharynx housing a small, valved pump constricted to a narrow salivary duct supplying outgoing enzymes for food fluidization. Indirect evidence links long-proboscid mouthpart structure with contemporaneous tubulate ovulate organs. Direct evidence of gymnospermous Cycadopites pollen is associated with one Parapolycentropus specimen. Parapolycentropus and Dualula exhibit hind-wing reduction that would precede haltere formation, likely caused by Ultrabithorax. Distinctive, male Aneuretopsychina genitalia are evident from specimens in copulo, supplemented by mixed-sex individuals of likely male mating swarms.
Highlights
Long-proboscid scorpionflies are enigmatic, mid-Mesozoic insects associated with gymnosperm pollination
We document structurally well-preserved male genitalia from compression Mesopsychidae and Pseudopolycentropodidae that are compared to the amber taxa, the latter including an in copulo pair, revealing stereotyped patterns of scorpionfly genitalia structure during the mid Mesozoic
From a variety of indirect and direct evidence, we provide an explicit explanation of the feeding mechanisms of these taxa, and their association with gymnosperm hosts based on mouthpart structure, host-plant ovulate organ morphology, and adjacent pollen
Summary
Long-proboscid scorpionflies are enigmatic, mid-Mesozoic insects associated with gymnosperm pollination. Understanding of Aneuretopsychina biology has increased greatly from examination of compression deposit occurrences[2,3,6,7,19,20], to a recent focus on late appearing lineages from Myanmar amber[16,17,21] Examination of these amber taxa soon before extinction of Aneuretopsychina can provide more finely resolved details of the life habits and evolutionary biology of this bizarre[17] group of insects. In this contribution, we provide long-proboscid scorpionfly data from Middle Jurassic compression deposits of Northeastern China, and mid-Cretaceous amber from Northern. Our multifaceted study should enlarge knowledge of long-proboscid scorpionfly ecology and their life habits from the deep past
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