A new biting midge of the genus Forcipomyia Meigen, 1818 from Miocene Ethiopian amber (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
RYSZARD SZADZIEWSKI ◽  
ELŻBIETA SONTAG ◽  
MADELINE V. PANKOWSKI
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Gulf Of Gdańsk ◽  
Biting Midges ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
Biting Midge ◽  
Dominican Amber ◽  
The World ◽  
Sakhalin Amber

Biting midges (Ceratopogonidae) are a relatively well-studied family of nematocerous flies distributed worldwide, including 6,206 extant and 296 fossil species. To date, 1,146 extant and 32 fossil species in the genus Forcipomyia have been recorded in the world (Borkent & Dominiak, 2020). Biting midges of the subgenus Forcipomyia s. str. are indicative of forests because their larvae and pupae usually live under the bark of rotting trees (Szadziewski, 2018). The oldest records of the genus are from the Eocene. Forcipomyia are reported from early Eocene Fushun amber (one species; Hong, 1981; Stebner et al., 2016; Szadziewski, 2018; Krzemiński et al., 2019), early Eocene Cambay amber (unnamed, Stebner et al., 2017), middle Eocene Sakhalin amber (one species, Szadziewski & Sontag, 2013), Eocene Baltic amber from the Gulf of Gdańsk, Rovno and Bitterfeld (21 species; Szadziewski, 1988, Szadziewski, 1993, Sontag & Szadziewski, 2011), Miocene Dominican amber (10 species, Szadziewski & Grogan, 1998) and Miocene Mexican amber (unnamed, Szadziewski & Grogan, 1996).

scholarly journals Comparison of Biting Midges of the Early Eocene Cambay Amber (India) and Late Eocene European Ambers Supports the Independent Origin of European Ambers

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. E. Perkovsky
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Rovno Amber ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Museum Collection ◽  
Biting Midges ◽  
Biting Midge ◽  
Independent Origin ◽  
Danish Amber

Abstract Of the three genera of Ceratopogoninae dominant in Late Eocene ambers of Europe, the two known are absent in the Early Eocene Cambay amber (India): the Holarctic genus Ceratopogon and the worldwide distributed genus Culicoides, known since the Late Cretaceous. Tropical biting midge genera (Meunierohelea and Leptoconops and genera with feminized male antennae: Camptopterohelea, Eohelea, and Gedanohelea) are abundantly represented in Cambay amber. The proportion of Ceratopogonini with feminized male antennae among all Ceratopogonidae dramatically increases from north to south: from 1.4-2.4 % in unbiased collections of Bitterfeld amber (Humboldt Museum collection) and Baltic amber (the Giecewicz collection) to 7 % in Danish amber and 12.7 % in Rovno amber; their proportion in Cambay amber is 17 %. The proportion of tropical specimens among specimens Ceratopogoninae in unbiased collections is 6.4 % in Baltic amber, 5.3 % in Bitterfeld amber, 21 % in Rovno and Danish amber, and 58 % in Cambay amber. Strong differences in the proportion of tropical components among Ceratopogoninae from different European ambers are in agreement with data on Cambay amber and so are indicative of origin of the European ambers under different climatic and hence geographic environments.

Biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in Eocene Baltic amber from the Rovno region (Ukraine)

2011 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 779-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Sontag ◽  
Ryszard Szadziewski
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Gulf Of Gdańsk ◽  
Biting Midges ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
Gulf Of Gdansk ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
A New Species

Biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in Eocene Baltic amber from the Rovno region (Ukraine) The paper presents the results of an examination of 714 biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) preserved in Baltic amber from the Rovno deposits in Ukraine. A new species - Leptoconops rovnensis sp. n. - is described and illustrated. 29 of the fossil species reported here have already been described from other deposits of Baltic amber: 26 of these were also found in amber from the Gulf of Gdańsk and 18 in amber from Bitterfeld (Saxony). The most common genera of biting midges in Ukrainian amber are also found in amber from Bitterfeld and the Gulf of Gdańsk, and with very much the same frequencies. The results indicate that the faunas of Ceratopogonidae enclosed in amber from Rovno, Bitterfeld and the Baltic are very similar, showing that they inhabited similar palaeoenvironments in the same palaeogeographic region.

A new Symphoromyia in the Middle Eocene Baltic amber (Diptera: Rhagionidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4820 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-378
Author(s):  
VALERIE NGO-MULLER ◽  
ANDRE NEL
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
Extant Species

Symphoromyia clerci sp. nov. is described from the Eocene Baltic amber. Even if it has nearly all the characters of the extant species of Symphoromyia subgenus Symphoromyia, it differs from these flies in the short scape, as long as the pedicel (at least twice as long in extant taxa). This fossil is twice as large as those that were previously described from the same amber. These taxa need to be revised to verify their generic attribution. Symphoromyia clerci sp. nov. is the second fossil species attributable to this genus on the basis of ‘modern’ characters. The extant Symphoromyia are frequently hematophagous on mammals, suggesting a similar biology for the Eocene representatives of this genus.

The oldest long-legged fly of the subfamily Medeterinae (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) from the Early Eocene of France

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-179
Author(s):  
VALERIE NGÔ-MULLER ◽  
ROMAIN GARROUSTE ◽  
ANDRÉ NEL
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Early Eocene

We describe Paleothrypticus eocenicus gen. et sp. nov., oldest and first Medeterinae from the Early Eocene Oise amber (France). Representatives of the tribes Medeterini and Systenini are recorded in the Middle Eocene Baltic amber and the Miocene amber of Mexico. These fossils show that this subfamily was already well diversified at the beginning of the Eocene.

scholarly journals Fourth Contribution on Late Eocene Amber Silken Fungus Beetles: A New Baltic Amber Species of Atomaria (Coleoptera, Clavicornia, Cryptophagidae)

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Yu. Lyubarsky ◽  
E. E. Perkovsky
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Biting Midge ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Eocene Amber

Atomaria gedanicola Lyubarsky et Perkovsky, sp. n., a new cryptophagid species from Baltic amber is described. The new species is the first recorded Eocene Atomariinae. The new species is similar to A. fuscipes Gyllenhal. It differs from the latter in having pronotum flat, posterior angles of pronotum obtuse, and antenna short. The record of A. gedanicola syninclused with Ceratopogon biting midge supports the Late Eocene age of the Baltic amber, for the Holarctic affinities of both taxa are incompatible with the paratropical climate characteristic of the Mid-European Middle Eocene.

scholarly journals A fossil species of the primitive mymarid genus Borneomymar (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) in Eocene Baltic amber

2013 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Engel ◽  
Ryan C. McKellar ◽  
John T. Huber
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
Extant Species

A new fossil species of fairyfly (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Mymaridae) is described and figured from a well-preserved female in middle Eocene (Lutetian) Baltic amber as Borneomymar pankowskiorum Engel, McKellar, & Huber, new species.  This species represents the fourth genus from Baltic amber whose extant species now occur only in southeastern Asia, Australia and Madagascar.

scholarly journals The bees of Early Eocene Cambay amber (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

2013 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Engel ◽  
Jaime Ortega-Blanco ◽  
Paul C. Nascimbene ◽  
Hukam Singh
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
New Subgenus ◽  
Two New Species

The fauna of bees known from Early Eocene (Ypresian) Cambay amber are reviewed.  Presently only three species have been recovered, all from among the corbiculate Apinae and representing the extinct tribes Electrapini and Melikertini, and all from genera known from the slightly younger middle Eocene Baltic amber.  A single, poorly-preserved and fragmentary female of an unidentifiable species of Protobombus Cockerell is recorded.  Two new species of the genus Melikertes Engel are documented, one representing a new subgenus, Paramelikertes Engel & Ortega-Blanco, as is a third, fragmentary melikertine of uncertain identity.  The new species are Melikertes (Paramelikertes) gujaratensis Engel & Ortega-Blanco, new species, and M. (Melikertes) kamboja Engel & Ortega-Blanco, new species.

Description of Neoliodes dominicus n. sp. (Acari, Oribatida) from dominican amber, aided by synchrotron x-ray microtomography

2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Heethoff ◽  
Lukas Helfen ◽  
Roy A. Norton
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Organic Soil ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Late Devonian ◽  
Geological History ◽  
Soil Horizons ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Dominican Amber ◽  
Cretaceous Fossils

The Nearly ubiquitous mite suborder Oribatida, which comprises mostly mycophages and saprophages in organic soil horizons, has a long geological history. Early derivative taxa are known from middle and late Devonian deposits (Norton et al., 1988; Subías and Arillo, 2002) and members of the highly derived cohort Brachypylina have existed since the Jurassic (Krivolutsky and Krasilov, 1977, Selden et al., 2008). The group is commonly represented as inclusion-fossils in amber, with about 100 species known worldwide. Except for four Cretaceous fossils from Siberia (Bulanova-Zachvatkina, 1974; Krivolutsky and Ryabinin, 1976) and Spain (Arillo and Subías, 2000, 2002), the named amber species are of Tertiary age. The majority of these have been discovered in the Priabonian (middle Eocene) Baltic amber deposits of northern Europe (Labandeira et al., 1997; Norton, 2006).

scholarly journals The flies (Diptera) say that amber from the Gulf of Gdańsk, Bitterfeld and Rovno is the same Baltic amber

2013 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Szwedo ◽  
Elżbieta Sontag
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Geographical Origin ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Gulf Of Gdańsk ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Biting Midges ◽  
Gulf Of Gdansk ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Sea Coast

ABSTRACT Amber and its inclusions have been studied for over 200 years. Particular reverence was accorded the amber from the deposits around the Gulf of Gdańsk. As knowledge of amber increased, the problem of distinguishing amber from the various deposits along the Baltic Sea coast, but also in Germany, Belarus and Ukraine arose. Here we discuss the species composition of biting midges (Ceratopogonidae) from amber derived from different deposits, and discuss the use of regional names for Baltic amber yielding inclusions from the same taphocoenosis but of different geographical origin.

Biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) as indicators of biostratigraphy, ecological reconstructions and identification of amber deposits

2016 ◽  
Vol 107 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 219-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryszard Szadziewski
Keyword(s):  
Lower Cretaceous ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Large Family ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Wing Membrane ◽  
Biting Midges ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
The Family ◽  
Protein Rich

ABSTRACTBiting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are a large family of flies that commononly appear in Lower Cretaceous to Miocene strata, with over 280 fossil species (4.3 % of the family), belonging to 49 genera (26 extant; 23 extinct). Morphological characters used in the identification of fossil genera and species are identical to those used in studies of extant Ceratopogonidae and, as a result, their potential indicative value is reliable. Two relictual extant genera, Leptoconops and Austroconops, reported from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber, are at least 125 million years old. Certain ceratopogonid genera are indicative for the Lower Cretaceous, Upper Cretaceous, Eocene or Miocene. A morphological character indicative for the Upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic is macrotrichia on the wing membrane of adults. Indicator species and genera are reviewed for all amber deposits. Eocene Baltic amber contains the best known fauna of biting midges, with 109 named species. Some genera are indicative of aquatic and semiaquatic habitats (predaceous genera, subfamily Ceratopogoninae), forests with rotting trees (Forcipomyia), sandy sea shore habitats (Leptoconops), a cold boreal climate (Ceratopogon) or warm climates (Nannohelea, Austroconops, Leptoconops, Meunierohelea, Metahelea). Females require a protein-rich meal and are well known for feeding on the blood of vertebrates, but many feed on other things, so this information can help with the interpretation of palaeoenvironments. Washingtonhelea taimyrica Szadziewski, 1996, described from Siberian amber, is transferred to the fossil genus Palaeobrachypogon: P.taimyricus (Szadziewski, 1996), comb. nov. For Serromyia alphea, mistakenly redescribed and illustrated from Eocene Bitterfeld amber (= Baltic amber) by Szadziewski (1993), a new name – Serromyiaerrata Szadziewski, nom. nov. – is proposed.

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