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Issue: Vol. 4 No. 6: December 2021
Type: Article
Published: 2021-12-14
DOI: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.4.6.13
Page range: 637–647
Abstract views: 414
PDF downloaded: 13

Fossil Darwin wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) from Baltic amber

Kaliningrad Amber Museum, Marshal Vasilevskiy Square 1, Kaliningrad 236016, Russia
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskiye Gory, 1, GSP-1, Moscow 119991, Russia
Hymenoptera Ichneumonidae Eocene fossil new species Stilbopinae Diplazontinae aphidophagous syrphid flies Syrphidae emergence hole

Abstract

Seven subfamilies of Darwin wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), Banchinae, Cryptinae, Orthocentrinae, Pherhombinae, Stilbopinae, Townesitinae and Tryphoninae in Baltic amber are reviewed. Two species, Rovenosa alexrasnitsyni Manukyan, sp. nov. and R. khalaimi Manukyan, sp. nov. (Stilbopinae) are described as new to science. The male of Rovenosa rasnitsyni Khalaim, 2011 is recorded and described for the first time. The discovery of the puparium of an aphidophagous syrphid fly (Diptera: Syrphidae) with an emergence hole characteristic for Diplazontinae is the first fossil evidence of the subfamily. The strong bias in composition of the Ichneumonidae fauna in Baltic amber is noted. The presence of certain taxa in amber is suggested to be primarily due to specific properties of the pine resin, and only secondarily due to their occurrence in the “amber” forest.

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