Two new chrysidoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae, Chrysididae) from mid-Miocene Zhangpu amber

Abstract

The Miocene fossil record of Chrysidoidea is particularly scarce despite numbers of insect-bearing deposits available. Their record is here summarized, highlighting the overwhelming proportion of fossils from Dominican Republic amber while other deposits, e.g., Zhangpu, Mexican or Ethiopian ambers, seem promising for the study of the group but suffer from the insufficient interest in this period. We describe and figure two new species from Zhangpu, China, a rich amber biota that formed in the Asian rainforest during the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO): Sierola colomboi n. sp. (Bethylidae, the second from Zhangpu amber) and Hedychridium rosai n. sp. (Chrysididae). Sierola currently has a circum-pacific distribution with two fossils from European Eocene deposits. Four species have been recorded from China but Sierola colomboi n. sp. is the first fossil species from the country. Hedychridium is a cosmopolitan genus, the second largest within its family and Hedychridium rosai n. sp. represents its first known fossil species.