Mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar reveals a rich diversity of extinct scolebythid wasps (Hymenoptera: Chrysidoidea)

Abstract

In the present contribution we revise the fauna of the wasp family Scolebythidae found in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, with the following new taxa being proposed: †Acanthabythus exilispineus gen. et sp. nov., †Arcapenesia compacta gen. et sp. nov., †Burmapenesia gen. nov., containing †B. iridescens sp. nov. and †B. longicephala sp. nov., †Cephalobythus gen. nov., containing †C. clypeatus sp. nov., †C. deformis sp. nov., †C. gladiator sp. nov., and †C. simplex sp. nov., †Cretopsenella spinifera gen. nov. et sp. nov., †Gnathapenesia burmensis gen. nov. et sp. nov., and †Rhynchopsenella gen. nov., containing †R. argentea sp. nov., †R. bicarinata sp. nov., and †R. diaphana sp. nov. We also remove †Nadezhdabythus burmensis Zhang et al. 2020 from the family and provide a genus-level key for Burmese amber Scolebythidae. The deposit now includes seven genera of Scolebythidae, all new to science, including thirteen new species, and represent the first legitimate records of the family in Burmese amber. The presence of the family in Burmese amber supports the prevalence of tropical forests in the West Burma block by that time, where the family was relatively diverse in comparison to the present-day fauna.