Flatâ€ footed Females and Missing Males: A New Genus and Species of Pleciofungivoridae (Diptera: Bibionomorpha) Represents the First Record of the Family from Midâ€ Cretaceous Kachin Amber

Zhang, Qingqing; Krzeminski, WiesÅ‚aw; Å evcik, Jan; Blagoderov, Vladimir; Soszynska, Agnieszka; Skibinska, Kornelia

Flatâ€ footed Females and Missing Males: A New Genus and Species of Pleciofungivoridae (Diptera: Bibionomorpha) Represents the First Record of the Family from Midâ€ Cretaceous Kachin Amber

Resource type

Journal article

Creator (person)

Zhang, Qingqing

Krzeminski, WiesÅ‚aw

Å evcik, Jan

Blagoderov, Vladimir

Soszynska, Agnieszka

Skibinska, Kornelia

Date published

June 2024

Abstract

A new genus and species, gen. et sp. nov., from the extinct family Pleciofungivoridae (Diptera: Bibionomorpha), is discovered in midâ€ Cretaceous Kachin amber. Previously, this family was known only from imprints in sedimentary rocks of the Jurassic and the Lower Cretaceous. Discovery of a representative of Pleciofungivoridae in Kachin amber confirms the presence of the family in the Upper Cretaceous. The new species has a unique structure of fore tarsus, with lobed and extended tarsal segments II to IV, a feature hitherto known only in a few species of extant Sciaroidea. Although not particularly rare, the new species is currently known only from female specimens. Possible reasons for this phenomenon, very unusual in Sciaroidea, are briefly discussed, including parthenogenesis as a potentially plausible hypothesis.