A new genus and species of Euphaeidae (Odonata, Zygoptera) from the early Eocene Okanagan Highlands locality at Republic, Washington, U.S.A.

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4966 (3) ◽  
pp. 392-400
Author(s):  
S. BRUCE ARCHIBALD ◽  
ROBERT A. CANNINGS

We describe Republica weatbrooki, a new genus and species of damselfly (Odonata, Zygoptera, Euphaeidae, Eodichromatinae) from the early Eocene (Ypresian) fossil locality at Republic, Washington, U.S.A. Its single specimen is the sole damselfly known from the Okanagan Highlands series of localities in far-western North America. 

2019 ◽  
Vol 151 (6) ◽  
pp. 783-816
Author(s):  
S. Bruce Archibald ◽  
Robert A. Cannings

AbstractWe describe the first dragonflies (Odonata: Anisoptera) from the early Eocene Okanagan Highlands of far-western North America from nine fossils. Six are assigned to five species in four new, named genera of Aeshnidae: Antiquiala snyderaenew genus and species, Idemlinea versatilisnew genus and species, Ypshna brownleeinew genus and species, Ypshna latipennatanew genus and species, and Eoshna thompsonensisnew genus and species; we treat one as Aeshnidae genus A, species A; one is assigned to Gomphidae: Auroradraco eosnew genus and species; and we treat a ninth, fragmentary fossil of unknown family affinity as Anisoptera indeterminate genus A, species A, which represents a seventh genus and eighth species. The dominance of Aeshnidae is consistent with other Paleocene and Eocene fossil localities. Auroradraco eos is the only fossil Gomphidae in the roughly 66-million-year gap between occurrences in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber and the early Oligocene of France. Ypshna appears close to Parabaissaeshna ejerslevense from the early Eocene Fur Formation of Denmark; this is not surprising given Holarctic intercontinental connections at this time and a growing list of insect taxa shared between the Okanagan Highlands and the Fur Formation.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4934 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-133
Author(s):  
S. BRUCE ARCHIBALD ◽  
ROBERT A. CANNINGS ◽  
ROBERT J. ERICKSON ◽  
SETH M. BYBEE ◽  
ROLF W. MATHEWES

We describe the Cephalozygoptera, a new, extinct suborder of Odonata, composed of the families Dysagrionidae and Sieblosiidae, previously assigned to the Zygoptera, and possibly the Whetwhetaksidae n. fam. The Cephalozygoptera is close to the Zygoptera, but differs most notably by distinctive head morphology. It includes 59 to 64 species in at least 19 genera and one genus-level parataxon. One species is known from the Early Cretaceous (Congqingia rhora Zhang), possibly three from the Paleocene, and the rest from the early Eocene through late Miocene. We describe new taxa from the Ypresian Okanagan Highlands of British Columbia, Canada and Washington, United States of America: 16 new species of Dysagrionidae of the existing genus Dysagrion (D. pruettae); the new genera Okanagrion (O. threadgillae, O. hobani, O. beardi, O. lochmum, O. angustum, O. dorrellae, O. liquetoalatum, O. worleyae, all new species); Okanopteryx (O. jeppesenorum, O. fraseri, O. macabeensis, all new species); Stenodiafanus (S. westersidei, new species); the new genus-level parataxon Dysagrionites (D. delinei new species, D. sp. A, D. sp. B, both new); and one new genus and species of the new family Whetwhetaksidae (Whetwhetaksa millerae). 


2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-216
Author(s):  
Steven R. Manchester ◽  
Kory A. Disney ◽  
Kasey K. Pham

A new kind of fin-winged fruit is recognized from lacustrine shales of the early Eocene Tepee Trail Formation of northwestern Wyoming and from the middle Eocene Clarno Formation of central Oregon, USA. The fruits are obovate with five thick lateral wings, borne on a thick pedicel and bearing scars of hypogynous perianth and disk. The fruit surface is covered with small circular dots interpreted as glands. This combination of characters leads us to infer affinities with the Rutaceae, although no identical modern genus is known. We establish the new genus and species, Quinquala obovata.


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.


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. 


2012 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 973-978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregg F. Gunnell

Uintasoricines are diminutive plesiadapiforms that are found in the latest Paleocene through middle Eocene, predominantly in North America. They are not a diverse group but individual species may be locally abundant and they are a persistent element of the plesiadapiform radiation in North America surviving over a span of approximately 16 million years. Recent field work in southern Wyoming at South Pass has led to the discovery of a new genus and species of uintasoricine. The new form is smaller in tooth dimensions compared to other known uintasoricines, being slightly smaller thanUintasorex montezumicusfrom California. Both the newly described taxon andU. montezumicusare among the smallest plesiadapiforms yet known with body weights estimated to be 20 to 25 g. The sediments of the Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of the Wasatch Formation at South Pass contain a unique upland fauna—the presence of a distinctive uintasoricine in this assemblage adds further evidence to support the notion that this upland environment was a biodiversity hotspot during the latest early Eocene.


Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2063 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
VLADIMIR N. MAKARKIN ◽  
S. BRUCE ARCHIBALD

A new genus and species Allorapisma chuorum gen. sp. nov. is described from the Early Eocene locality at Republic, Washington, U.S.A. The forewing venation of Allorapisma is most similar to that of the genus Principiala Makarkin & Menon from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil and Britain. A new, informal suprageneric taxon consisting of these genera is proposed, the Principiala group. The habitats of extant and fossil Ithonidae are briefly discussed.


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.


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). 


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