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© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Simple Summary

Phoroid flies are an ancient lineage of Diptera, which includes megadiverse, widespread groups like the scuttle flies, as well as species-poor, sometimes relict, groups like flat-footed and ironic flies. The earliest fossils of phoroid flies are from Early Cretaceous. In this paper we describe a second species of the enigmatic phoroid fly genus Lebambromyia. The genus was erected to accommodate an extinct species, L. acrai Grimaldi and Cumming, from Lebanese amber deposit, dated at ca. 120 Mya. A new species, L. sacculifera sp. nov., is described here based on a single female specimen embedded in Myanmar “mid-Cretaceous” amber, which is over 20 Ma younger than the Lebanese outcrop, implying that this genus had a wide geographic and temporal distribution. The state of preservation of the new specimen and its study with phase contrast X-ray microtomography show that this ancient fly was characterized by a mix of ancient and modern features, such as specialized sensory areas in the antenna. Phylogenetic analyses support that Lebambromyia was related to flat-footed and ironic flies, but a clear phylogenetic position remains elusive.

Abstract

Lebambromyia sacculifera sp. nov. is described from Late Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, integrating traditional observation techniques and X-ray phase contrast microtomography. Lebambromyia sacculifera is the second species of Lebambromyia after L. acrai Grimaldi and Cumming, described from Lebanese amber (Early Cretaceous), and the first record of this taxon from Myanmar amber, considerably extending the temporal and geographic range of this genus. The new specimen bears a previously undetected set of phylogenetically relevant characters such as a postpedicel sacculus and a prominent clypeus, which are shared with Ironomyiidae and Eumuscomorpha. Our cladistic analyses confirmed that Lebambromyia represented a distinct monophyletic lineage related to Platypezidae and Ironomyiidae, though its affinities are strongly influenced by the interpretation and coding of the enigmatic set of features characterizing these fossil flies.

Details

Title
Discovery of Lebambromyia in Myanmar Cretaceous Amber: Phylogenetic and Biogeographic Implications (Insecta, Diptera, Phoroidea)
Author
Badano, Davide 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Zhang, Qingqing 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Fratini, Michela 3 ; Maugeri, Laura 3 ; Bukreeva, Inna 4 ; Longo, Elena 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Wilde, Fabian 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Yeates, David K 6   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Cerretti, Pierfilippo 7   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Biology and Biotechnologies “Charles Darwin”, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy; Museum of Zoology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Valerio Massimo 6, 00162 Rome, Italy 
 State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China; [email protected]; Institute of Geosciences, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany 
 CNR-Nanotec (Rome Unit) c/o Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy; [email protected] (M.F.); [email protected] (L.M.); [email protected] (I.B.) 
 CNR-Nanotec (Rome Unit) c/o Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale A. Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy; [email protected] (M.F.); [email protected] (L.M.); [email protected] (I.B.); P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskii pr., 119991 Moscow, Russia 
 Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institute of Materials Physics, Max-Planck-Strasse 1, 21502 Geesthacht, Germany; [email protected] (E.L.); [email protected] (F.W.) 
 Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO National Facilities and Collections, Black Mountain, Clunies Ross Street, Acton, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia; [email protected] 
 Department of Biology and Biotechnologies “Charles Darwin”, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy; Museum of Zoology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Valerio Massimo 6, 00162 Rome, Italy; Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO National Facilities and Collections, Black Mountain, Clunies Ross Street, Acton, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia; [email protected] 
First page
354
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20754450
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2531151790
Copyright
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.