Elena D. Lukashevich

The oldest occurrence of immature Diptera (Insecta), Middle Triassic, France

Abstract The oldest fossil Diptera are known from the Grès à Voltzia Formation (Upper Buntsandstein) of the northern Vosges Mountains (northeastern France), the age of which is early Anisian (early Middle Triassic). Six monotypic genera assigned to all the major lineages of Diptera (except for the Culicomorpha) were described from these beds based on adults (Krzeminski et al. 1994; Krzeminski & Krzeminska 2003). Immature Diptera also occur in the Grès à Voltzia (ca 30 specimens). Pupae are abundant whereas the larvae are extremely rare. The most numerous and well-preserved pupal type has been assigned to Voltziapupa n. gen. (V. tentata n. sp. and V. cornuta n. sp.). These pupae display plesiomorphic characters combined with possibly derived ones. Among the larvae, Anisinodus crinitus n. gen., n. sp. shows culicomorph features. It represents the earliest Culicomorpha (Chironomoidea inc. fam.) known up to date. The other types of dipteran immatures (six pupal and two larval ones) occurring in the Grès à Voltzia are less well preserved, so that their systematic position is difficult to determine and they have been assigned to the Nematocera incertae sedis. These immature Diptera are the first ones recorded from the Triassic.

New Chironomidae (Diptera) with elongate proboscises from the Late Jurassic of Mongolia

Abstract Four new species of Chironomidae with well-developed elongate proboscises are described from a Late Jurassic site Shar Teg in SW Mongolia. These are named Cretaenne rasnicyni sp. n., Podonomius blepharis sp. n., Podonomius macromastix sp. n., ?Podonomius robustus sp. n.

Mesozoic fossils and the phylogeny of Tipulomorpha (Insecta: Diptera)

Tipulomorpha are known back to the Triassic but are very rare in the fossil record of that period. The oldest tipuloid genus, Archilimonia Krzemiński & Krzemińska, 2003, is redescribed based on the type and a new species from the Middle Triassic (early Anisian, 242–247 Ma) of the northern Vosges Mountains, NE France. Male terminalia of Triassic Tipulomorpha are described for the first time: a terminal gonostylus divided into a fleshy setose clasper and a lobe in Archilimonia grauvogeliana sp. nov. The systematic position of Archilimonia is investigated based on morphological characters of both extant and extinct taxa of Tipulomorpha and other infraorders. Our cladistic analysis is congruent with the family-level relationships recovered by the most recent phylogenetic studies of Tipulomorpha, and the position of some extinct taxa is discussed. The divided gonostylus is considered a synapomorphy of Tipuloidea except Pediciidae, so in our analyses we place Archilimonia between Pediciidae and other Tipuloidea (Limoniidae + (Tipulidae + Cylindrotomidae), with two other Triassic tipuloid genera (Mabelysia and Metarchilimonia). The family Tipulidae including the Mesozoic genus Tipunia is monophyletic, so Tipulidae has existed since the Late Jurassic. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:4C0BA500-A928-4C83-ABE1-8B42BB01A803

Male terminalia and their rotation in Tanyderidae (Insecta, Diptera, Nematocera) since the Mesozoic

ABSTRACT The structure of the male terminalia and their rotation are reviewed in both extinct and extant genera of Tanyderidae based on new observations and literature. The structure of gonostyli and parameres and the size of cerci show greater variation among extinct taxa than among the extant ones. A bifid aedeagus occurs in representatives of both tanyderid subfamilies, the modern nannotanyderine Peringueyomyina (and probably in Eocene Coramus) and the extinct tanyderines Macrochile and Similinannotanyderus. A trifid aedeagus, common in modern tanyderines, and a rare simple undivided aedeagus both appear to have evolved from it. The Triassic family Nadipteridae, supposedly ancestral to Tanyderidae, already displays rotation of male terminalia, suggesting that the latter is extremely ancient in Diptera and was probably inherited by Tanyderidae. Tanyderid genera vary in the presence of the rotation, number of involved segments and angle of rotation. Apparently it has been secondarily lost multiple times in the family. An astonishing similarity between the male hypopygia of extinct and extant Nannotanyderinae and that of the psychodid subfamily Horaiellinae is additionally discussed.