New Psocoptera (Insecta) from the lowermost Eocene amber of olse, France

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Synopsis The Eocene psocopteran fauna from the amber of Oise is shown to be very diverse, with 10 recorded families, 11 species and four new genera. Psyllipsocus eocenicus sp. nov. is the oldest accurate representative of Psyllipsocus and, maybe, of the family, as the family attributions of the Cretaceous Khatangia inclusa Vishniakova, 1975 and ?Psyllipsocus banksi Cockerell, 1916 remain debatable. Thylacella eocenica sp. nov. is the oldest record of the Lepidopsocidae. The Recent representatives of this genus are known from the Afrotropical region and Central and North America. Its discovery in the lowermost Eocene of France shows that its biogeographical range differed in the past. The apterous form of the liposcelidid Embidopsocus eocenicus Nel et al., 2004 is described. The empheriid Eoempheria intermedia gen. et sp. nov. seems to be more similar to Baltic amber taxa than to the Spanish Cretaceous genera. Eorhyopsocus magnificus gen. et sp. nov. is the first described fossil Psoquillidae. As ?Psylloneura perantiqua Cockerell, 1919 is not a Pachytroctidae but an incertae sedis stat. nov., Tapinella eocenica sp. nov. is the only valid representative of this family in the fossil record. Tapinella is now known from Africa, Madagascar, India, China, Japan and Oceania. Its presence in the Early Cenozoic of western Europe suggests that it was more widely distributed in the past. The manicapsocid Eomanicapsocus melaniae gen. et sp. nov. is closely similar to the Recent genus Manicapsocus Smithers, 1967 (Rhodesia). Despite its similarities to the Recent Mexican genus Proctroctopsocus Mockford, 1967 (Troctopsocidae), we provisionally include Eopro‐troctopsocus celinea gen. et sp. nov. in the Manicapsocidae. The lachesillid Eolachesilla eocenica sp. nov. is closely related to the Recent Chilean species Eolachesilla chilensis Badonnel, 1967b. We describe a fossil that we cannot separate from Archipsocus puber Hagen, 1882, previously known from Eocene Baltic amber. It is the oldest record of the family Archipsocidae and the first known insect species present in both the French and Baltic ambers. The amphientomid Amphientomum parisiensis sp. nov. is very similar to the Baltic amber species A. colpolepis Enderlein, 1905.

This publication has 20 references indexed in Scilit: