The oldest fossil of the sawfly subfamily Nematinae (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae) from the Paleocene of Menat (France)

Abstract

The speciose family Tenthredinidae has a scarce fossil record (Nel et al., 2022a, b), despite recent molecular-based phylogenetic analyses suggesting a Cretaceous age for the origin (ca. 100 Ma) and the diversification of the family into its modern subfamilies (Nyman et al., 2006, 2019; Niu et al., 2021). The lack of Mesozoic representative of this group remains unexplained because Nyman et al. (2006) dated its origin at 100 Ma. Cenozoic fossils are currently attributed to the subfamilies Allantinae, Heterarthrinae, Blennocampinae, and Nematinae (Taeger et al., 2010; Nel et al, 2022a, b).