Morphology of the oldest fossil subfamily of Limoniidae (Diptera, Architipulinae) in the light of exceptionally preserved Mesozoic material

Katarzyna Kopeć,Iwona Kania-Kłosok,Agnieszka Soszyńska-Maj,Wiesław Krzemiński,Robert A Coram

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-03350-4

Abstract

Based on known fossil evidence the extinct subfamily Architipulinae is considered to be the oldest evolutionary group of the Limoniidae, the largest family within the infraorder Tipulomorpha. The morphology of this subfamily, which includes 11 genera, has so far been based mainly on wing venation. New well-preserved representatives of the genus Cretolimonia Kalugina, 1986 were recovered from the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary of Shevia and Daya, Transbaikalia, as well as from mid-Cretaceous amber from Kachin, Myanmar. This new material enriches our knowledge of the subfamily Architipulinae and of the genus Cretolimonia, and allows us to ascertain the detailed morphological structure of the female copulatory apparatus with spermathecae and the structure of the male hypopygium. The combination of detailed impression fossils with a specimen preserved three-dimensionally in resin has permitted study of the morphology of this Mesozoic fly genus almost to the level of modern genera. The paper includes descriptions of four new species of Cretolimonia: C. lukashevichae sp. nov., C. pseudojurassica sp. nov., C. dayana sp. nov. from sedimentary rocks, and C. mikolajczyki sp. nov. from Myanmar amber, supported with a key to all known species.

Highlights

The Limoniidae, with over 10,000 described extant species, is the largest family in the dipteran infraorder Tipulomorpha, and one of the largest among all Nematocera
The Architipulinae material described here shows an exceptional level of preservation, allowing us to augment the diagnosis of the genus Cretolimonia and enriching our knowledge of the whole subfamily Architipulinae
The hypopygium is described for the first time on the basis of a perfectly preserved imprint in the rock, as well as the first representative of the subfamily from a fossil resin

Summary

Introduction

The Limoniidae (limoniid craneflies), with over 10,000 described extant species, is the largest family in the dipteran infraorder Tipulomorpha, and one of the largest among all Nematocera. Based on the fossil data known to date Architipulinae is considered the oldest group of Limoniidae[1,2,3,4,5,6,7], with the oldest representative Architipula youngi Krzemiński, 1992 dating from the Late Triassic of North A merica[3]. This species was used to calibrate the age of the Tipulomorpha clade in the phylogenetic tree of Diptera[8]. Four new species of Cretolimonia are described, and a key to all known species is provided

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Conclusion