Arthropods found in Burmese amber

[Halichoeres]

Wow, those are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing

[Ravonium]

Yet another bump, this time with the discovery of a new serphitoid wasp species; Supraserphites draculi.



Paper (paywalled): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019566711830332X?via%3Dihub

[Jose S.M.]

These amber findings are always beautiful.

[Halichoeres]

Nice addition, Ravonium, thanks!

Here's a hister beetle, courtesy of Logo7: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=7835.0

[Halichoeres]

Another one out recently, Zorotypus pusillus, a zorapteran (also known as "angel insects"). The fossil includes an apparent aedeagus, an intromittent organ (i.e., an organ for internal fertilization).



Paper (open access): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jzs.12283

[Ravonium]

One of the best things about these threads for me is that I occasionally get to learn of an entirely new group of organisms, and this is the case here 


Excellent find, especially the internal fertilization organ.

[Halichoeres]

The hits keep coming! A new wasp, Holopsenelliscus pankowskiorum from Cretaceous amber.

I haven't been able to find a pdf, so I can't screenshot any images.

Paper (paywall): https://www.mapress.com/j/pe/article/view/palaeoentomology.2.2.10

[Ravonium]

Nevermind, you found, oddly enough, another species of wasp. Unfortunate that the paper is paywalled though.

[Halichoeres]

^ @Halichoeres I already posted this 

Oh gosh, sorry about that! I posted the wrong wasp. There are so many I misremembered. If I'd bothered to look up-thread 

[Logo7]

Now that I'm aware of this thread's existence, I will be posting all of the Burmese insect amber finds here instead of giving them their own thread like I did for Promyrmister (link to outside thread describing this genus a few posts above this one). So, here's Burmanopetalum inexpectatum, a new genus of millipede that is the first fossil millipede in the order Callipodida, suggesting that said order evolved at least some 100 million years ago, which is smaller than most contemporary members of the order. However, due to distinct differences in its morphology, a new family of millipedes, the Burmanopetalidae, has been erected to contain the new genus. The genus name comes from the country of Myanmar (formerly Burma), where the specimen was discovered, and "petalum," a common suffix in genus names of millipedes in the order Callipodida, and the species name originates from the fact that, despite being found amongst 529 other millipede specimens, it was the sole member of its order found at the amber site. Here is an image of the specimen and a link to the paper describing it.



Paper (open access!): https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/34991/

[Halichoeres]

That's phenomenal! Given the presence of mites, spiders, and millipedes in these amber measures, I think I'd better change the thread title to something a little more inclusive.

[Halichoeres]

A new species of frog-biting midge, Corethrella patula. As the name suggests, frog-biting midges suck frog blood, using their calls to find them. Everything beautiful in nature has something that evolved to make it miserable.

The holotype:


Open access in Cretaceous Research: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019566711930062X?dgcid=author#fig2

[Halichoeres]

Another new taxon, this time a mimarachnid planthopper (this family is one of few that are known only from the Cretaceous). Meet Mimaplax ekrypsan (Gr. "hidden flat mimic").

The holotype:


And a reconstruction by Dinghua Yang showing potential predators:


Open access in Scientific Reports: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-49414-4

[Halichoeres]

This has been discussed in another thread, but I feel I should also include it in this thread:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/science/amber-myanmar-paleontologists.html