Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

The first tiphiid wasp (Aculeata: Euaculeata: Vespoidea: Tiphiiformes) in Cretaceous amber is described and figured. Thanatotiphia nyx, new genus and species, is represented by a male entombed in mid-Cretaceous (latest Albian) amber from Myanmar. Thanatotiphia possesses remarkable apomorphies in wing venation, lacks key traits of modern subfamilies, and is thus classified in a new subfamily, Thanatotiphiinae. The fossil is further shown to be nested well within the family, indicating that major lineages of Tiphiidae diverged by the mid-Cretaceous. The new taxon is compared with modern tiphiid subfamilies and the sparse fossil history of the family briefly overviewed.

Comments

Engel, Michael S., Jaime Ortega-Blanco, and Daniel J. Bennett. "A remarkable tiphiiform wasp in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Hymenoptera: Tiphiidae)." Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 112, no. 1/2 (2009): 1-6.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1660/062.112.0201


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