Early Eocene snakeflies (Raphidioptera) of western North America from the Okanagan Highlands and Green River Formation

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4951 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-79
Author(s):  
S. BRUCE ARCHIBALD ◽  
VLADIMIR N. MAKARKIN

Four new species of Raphidiidae are described from the early Eocene of western North America: Megaraphidia antiquissima sp. nov. from McAbee, M. ootsa sp. nov. from Driftwood Canyon, M. hopkinsi sp. nov. from the Allenby Formation (all from British Columbia, Canada), M. klondika sp. nov. from Republic (Washington, United States of America). Archiinocellia Handlirsch, 1910, Archiinocellia oligoneura Handlirsch, 1910 from Horsefly River (British Columbia, Canada), and A. protomaculata (Engel, 2011), comb. nov., from the Green River Formation (Colorado, United States of America) are redescribed. Archiinocellia is assigned to Raphidiidae, sit. nov. The apparent absence of sclerotized gonocoxites 9 in the Archiinocellia protomaculata male is probably plesiomorphic at the family level. As some modern snakeflies do not require a cold interval to complete their development and Eocene Inocelliidae and Raphidiidae lived in regions of warm winters (especially A. protomaculata), adaptation to cold winters in many modern snakeflies is a post-Eocene phenomenon. Eocene Raphidiidae of Europe (Priabonian) differ greatly from those of North America (Ypresian and Priabonian). This pattern might reflect dispersal in either direction or ranges established prior to continental separation. Eocene Inocelliidae of Europe (Priabonian), however, are more similar to those of North America (Ypresian and Lutetian). 

2015 ◽  
Vol 148 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bruce Archibald ◽  
Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn

AbstractWe describe three new genera and four new species (three named) of siricomorph sawflies (Hymenoptera: Symphyta) from the Ypresian (early Eocene) Okanagan Highlands: Pamphiliidae,Ulteramus republicensisnew genus, new speciesfrom Republic, Washington, United States of America; Siricidae,Ypresiosirex orthosemosnew genus, new speciesfrom McAbee, British Columbia, Canada; and Cephidae,Cuspilongus cachecreekensisnew genus, new speciesfrom McAbee and another cephid treated as Cephinae species A from Horsefly River, British Columbia, Canada. These are the only currently established occurrences of any siricomorph family in the Ypresian. We treat the undescribed new siricoid from the Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil as belonging to the Pseudosiricidae, not Siricidae, and agree with various authors that the YpresianMegapterites mirabilisCockerell is an ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The Miocene speciesCephites oeningensisHeer andC. fragilisHeer, assigned to the Cephidae over a century and a half ago, are also ants. Many of the host plants that siricomporphs feed upon today first appeared in the Eocene, a number of these in the Okanagan Highlands in particular. The Okanagan Highlands sites where these wasps were found also had upper microthermal mean annual temperatures as are overwhelmingly preferred by most modern siricomorphs, but were uncommon in the globally warm Ypresian, only found then in higher elevations and highest latitudes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 146 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bruce Archibald ◽  
Christian Kehlmaier ◽  
Rolf W. Mathewes

AbstractThree new species of Pipunculidae (Diptera) are described (one named), from the early Eocene (Ypresian) Okanagan Highlands of British Columbia, Canada and Washington State, United States of America: Metanephrocerus belgardeaenew species from Republic, Washington; and Pipunculidae species A and Pipunculinae species A from Quilchena, British Columbia. We re-describe the late Eocene (Priabonian) species Protonephrocerus florissantius Carpenter and Hull from Florissant, Colorado, United States of America, and assign it to a new genus proposed here, Priabonanew genus. Pipunculinae species A is the oldest known member of the family whose wing lacks a separated M2 vein; previously this had been known in species only as old as Miocene Dominican amber. This is a presumably derived character state that is predominant in modern species. Molecular analysis indicates an origin of the Pipunculidae in the Maastrichtian; the morphological and taxonomic diversity seen here in the Ypresian is consistent with an early radiation of the family. This is concordant with the radiation of Auchenorrhyncha, upon which they mostly prey, which is in turn associated with the early Paleogene diversification of angiosperm-dominated forests recovering from the K-Pg extinction event.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4980 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-156
Author(s):  
VLADIMIR N. MAKARKIN ◽  
S. BRUCE ARCHIBALD ◽  
ROLF W. MATHEWES

The osmylid subfamily Protosmylinae is revised based on our emended diagnosis: Petrushevskia Martynova, 1958 and Mesosmylidus Jepson et al., 2012 are excluded (both considered Osmylidae incertae sedis), and Sogjuta Martynova, 1958 is transferred to it from the Mesosmylininae. The late Eocene genus Protosmylus Krüger, 1913 is considered a junior synonym of Osmylidia Cockerell, 1908 based on a distinct apomorphy (deeply forked MA in the hind wing), syn. nov. Three new species of Osmylidia from the early Eocene of North America are described: O. donnae sp. nov. from Quilchena, O. glastrai sp. nov. from Republic, Washington, USA, and an unnamed species of Osmylidia is reported from Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park, British Columbia (all localities of the Okanagan Highlands series), and O. taliae sp. nov. from the Green River Formation of Colorado, USA. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 803-813
Author(s):  
Gerald Mayr ◽  
S. Bruce Archibald ◽  
Gary W. Kaiser ◽  
Rolf W. Mathewes

We survey the known avian fossils from Ypresian (early Eocene) fossil sites of the North American Okanagan Highlands, mainly in British Columbia (Canada). All specimens represent taxa that were previously unknown from the Eocene of far-western North America. Wings from the McAbee site are tentatively referred to the Gaviiformes and would constitute the earliest fossil record of this group of birds. A postcranial skeleton from Driftwood Canyon is tentatively assigned to the Songziidae, a taxon originally established for fossils from the Ypresian of China. Two skeletons from Driftwood Canyon and the McAbee site are tentatively referred to Coliiformes and Zygodactylidae, respectively, whereas three further fossils from McAbee, Blakeburn, and Republic (Washington, USA) are too poorly preserved for even a tentative assignment. The specimens from the Okanagan Highlands inhabited relatively high paleoaltitudes with microthermal climates (except Quilchena: lower mesothermal) and mild winters, whereas most other Ypresian fossil birds are from much warmer lowland paleoenvironments with upper mesothermal to megathermal climates. The putative occurrence of a gaviiform bird is particularly noteworthy because diving birds are unknown from other lacustrine Ypresian fossil sites of the Northern Hemisphere. The bones of the putative zygodactylid show a sulphurous colouration, and we hypothesize that this highly unusual preservation may be due to the metabolic activity of sulphide-oxidizing bacteria.


2013 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir N. Makarkin ◽  
S. Bruce Archibald

The early Eocene green lacewings (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae) of the Okanagan Highlands deposits of McAbee, and Driftwood Canyon, British Columbia (Canada) and Republic, Washington (U.S.A.) are treated in detail for the first time. At least six genera are present, one unnamed, three new, with at least 10 new species, six named:Protochrysa fuscobasalisn. sp. (McAbee) (Limaiinae, the youngest known record of the subfamily),Okanaganochrysa coltsunaen. gen. n. sp. (McAbee),Adamsochrysa asperan. gen. n. sp. (McAbee),A. wilsonin. gen. n. sp. (Republic),Archaeochrysa profractan. sp. (McAbee), andPseudochrysopa harveyin. gen. n. sp. (Driftwood Canyon) (all Nothochrysinae, the latter provisionally). The four unnamed species include one assigned toPseudochrysopa, two likely belonging toAdamsochrysa, and one of an unknown nothochrysine genus. Microtholi are detected on the abdominal sclerites ofAdamsochrysa wilsoni, and the spermatheca and spermathecal duct in the abdomen ofPseudochrysopa harveyi, the first reported occurrences of these preserved in fossil Chrysopidae. Structures were detected on the apical wing margins of some species that appear similar to trichosors, which are unknown in Chrysopidae, but are present in some other neuropteran families. This is the richest described assemblage of the family anywhere in the fossil record. Okanagan chrysopids were also morphologically and presumably ecologically diverse, including large species with rich venation and well as those with simplified venation and the smallest known fossil species. This is the oldest reported occurrence of the family in North America.


2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lance Grande ◽  
Li Guo-Qing ◽  
Mark VH Wilson

A well-prepared anterior half of an amiid skull from the Late Paleocene Paskapoo Formation of south-central Alberta is described. The specimen is either very closely related to, or conspecific with, Amia pattersoni Grande and Bemis, 1998, from the Early Eocene Green River Formation of Wyoming. We leave the specimen as Amia cf. pattersoni until additional material is found to further clarify its relationships. Amia cf. pattersoni is the oldest known specimen clearly identifiable as belonging to the genus Amia (sensu Grande and Bemis, 1998), and the Paskapoo species extends the known geographic range of Amia both northward and westward. The fish assemblage of the Paskapoo Formation represents the most diverse freshwater Paleocene fish fauna known from North America. Based on comparisons of sample size and relative taxonomic diversity to the better known Green River Formation localities of Wyoming, we predict that further collecting will substantially increase the known diversity of the Paskapoo fauna. The Paskapoo Formation, therefore, has great potential to continue adding to the meager knowledge of pre-Eocene freshwater teleost diversity in North America.


1964 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 933-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Rosenblatt

A new species, Pholis clemensi, referred to the family Pholidae, is named and described from 12 specimens taken in southern British Columbia waters and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Pholis clemensi is compared with other members of the genus, and a key is given to the North American species.


2018 ◽  
Vol 150 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. B. Archibald ◽  
Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn ◽  
Denis J. Brothers ◽  
Rolf W. Mathewes

AbstractMost major modern families of Hymenoptera were established in the Mesozoic, but the diversifications within ecologically key trophic guilds and lineages that significantly influence the character of modern terrestrial ecosystems – bees (Apiformes), ants (Formicidae), social Vespidae, parasitoids (Ichneumonidae), and phytophagous Tenthredinoidea – were previously known to occur mostly in the middle to late Eocene. We find these changes earlier, seen here in the early Eocene Okanagan Highlands fossil deposits of western North America. Some of these may have occurred even earlier, but have been obscured by taphonomic processes. We provide an overview of the Okanagan Highlands Hymenoptera to family level and in some cases below that, with a minimum of 25 named families and at least 30 when those tentatively assigned or distinct at family level, but not named are included. Some are poorly known as fossils (Trigonalidae, Siricidae, Peradeniidae, Monomachidae), and some represent the oldest confirmed occurrences (Trigonalidae, Pompilidae, Sphecidaesensu stricto, Peradeniidae, Monomachidae, and possibly Halictidae). Some taxa previously thought to be relictual or extinct by the end of the Cretaceous (Angarosphecidae, Archaeoscoliinae, some Diapriidae) are present and sometimes abundant in the early Eocene. Living relatives of some taxa are now present in different climate regimes or on different continents.


Author(s):  
Patricia J. Vittum

This chapter describes two invasive crane fly species which are pests of turfgrass, particularly in the northwestern and northeastern United States, as well as southern British Columbia and the metropolitan Toronto area in Canada. The European crane fly and the common or marsh crane fly, order Diptera, family Tipulidae, subfamily Tipulinae, have elongated maxillary palpi that distinguish members of this subfamily from other subfamilies. Larvae of invasive crane flies are sometimes called leatherjackets, in part because the pupae are leathery in appearance. Invasive crane flies have a relatively limited distribution in North America, but can cause considerable damage on golf courses, lawns, athletic fields, and sod farms, as well as forage fields and hayfields. The chapter also looks at the frit fly, which belongs to the family Chloropidae.


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