New fossil representative of the genus Helius (Diptera, Limoniidae) from the little known and newly discovered locality Caergen Village of northeastern Tibetan Plateau (China)

Abstract

Helius (Helius) qinghai n. sp. belongs to the one of the best studied genera of the Diptera in terms of its history, with 23 fossil species described to date. The new species described in this paper is the first representative of the family Limoniidae (Diptera) from the little known and newly discovered locality Caergen Village from eastern Qinghai Province, northeastern Tibetan Plateau (China). The age range of fossils at Caergen Village of the Garang Formation is late Early Miocene to early Middle Miocene (16-19 Ma). This finding contributes to our knowledge of the evolution of the genus Helius. A summary about fossil records of the genus Helius is presented in the paper. Siyuan Wu. College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China. [email protected] Wiesław Krzemiński. Institute of Biology, Pedagogical University of Kraków, Podbrzezie 3, 31-054 Kraków, Poland. [email protected] Agnieszka Soszyńska-Maj. Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Łódź, 90-237 Łódź, Poland. [email protected] Dong Ren. College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China. [email protected]