Parasitic hump-backed flies (Diptera: Phoridae) from Middle Miocene ambers

Mónica M Solórzano-Kraemer (1) , Clément Bourdeau (2) , Simon Rosse-Guillevic (3) , Jörg U Hammel (4) , Chunpeng Xu (5) , Brian V Brown (6)

1 Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum [Frankfurt]
2 BIAF - Bio-Indicateurs Actuels et Fossiles
3 GR - Géosciences Rennes
4 State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy
5 UCAS - University of Chinese Academy of Sciences [Beijing]
6 Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Phorid flies are an abundant and diverse dipteran family in modern faunas, yet poorly represented in the fossil record. Here, we describe the first fossil species of the millipede parasitizing genus Myriophora, M. asiatica n. sp., and three new fossil species of the ant parasitizing genus Apocephalus, A. miocenus n. sp., A. dominicanus n. sp., and A. chiapanecus n. sp. discovered in Miocene amber deposits from China, Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Moreover, we add details on the previously described species Apocephalus succineus Brown, previously described in Dominican amber, with the description of a new specimen. We also include a dichotomous key for all Apocephalus species described in the fossil record..

Mots clés: Phoridae; Miocene; Amber; Zhangpu; Mexico; Dominican Republic

Domaines: Paléontologie

Mónica M Solórzano-Kraemer, Clément Bourdeau, Simon Rosse-Guillevic, Jörg U Hammel, Chunpeng Xu, et al.. Parasitic hump-backed flies (Diptera: Phoridae) from Middle Miocene ambers. Palaeoworld, 2024, 32 (4), pp.669-685. ⟨10.1016/j.palwor.2021.11.002⟩. ⟨insu-03431983⟩