Palaepangonius Ren, 1998

Grimaldi, David A., 2016, Diverse Orthorrhaphan Flies (Insecta: Diptera: Brachycera) In Amber From The Cretaceous Of Myanmar: Brachycera In Cretaceous Amber, Part Vii David A. Grimaldi, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2016 (408), pp. 1-132 : 33

Genus Palaepangonius Ren

Palaepangonius Ren, 1998b: 66 . Type species: Palaepangonius eupterus Ren, Yixian Formation (Early Cretaceous) , Beipiao, Liaoning Province, China.

Athericites Mostovski, Jarzembowski, and Coram, 2003: 165 . Type species: Athericites gordoni Mostovski, Jarzembowski and Coram. NEW SYNONYMY.

Palaepangonius zazicola (Mostovski, Jarzembowski, and Coram), 2003: 166 . Zaza Formation, Baissa, Siberia. NEW COMBINATION.

Palaepangonius kensmithi (Mostovski, Jarzembowski, and Coram), 2003: 166 . Weald Clay, Surrey, England. NEW COMBINATION.

Palaepangonius gordoni (Mostovski, Jarzembowski, and Coram), 2003: 167 . Weald Clay, Surrey, England. NEW COMBINATION.

Palaepangonius finchi (Mostovski, Jarzembowski, and Coram), 2003: 167 . Weald Clay, Surrey, England. NEW COMBINATION.

Palaepangonius sellwoodi (Mostovski, Jarzembowski, and Coram), 2003: 168 . Purbeck Limestone, Dorset, England. NEW COMBINATION.

EMENDED DIAGNOSIS: Revised from Ren (1998a) and Mostovski et al. (2003): Proboscis (known for two species) significantly longer than head, projecting forward, labellum small; hind tibia with one or two spurs. Basicosta well developed, deeply incised; apex of R 2+3 converging toward apex of R 1, pterostigma between apices of these two veins dark, well developed; fork of R 4 and R 5 long, diverging acutely at level of apex of cell d, tips of veins encompassing wing tip; M 3 and CuA 1 slightly convergent; CuA 2 and A 1 convergent but not meeting before wing margin.

COMMENTS: Zhang (2012) originally indicated that Athericites is a junior synonym of Palaepangonius , with which I concur, but that author did not officially synonymize the two genera. The wing venation of P. eupterus , as preserved or drawn by Ren (1998a), shows in the holotype the tip of vein R 5 ending at the apex of the left wing, which appears to be a preservational artifact; R 4 and R 5 encompass the apex in the right wing, interpreted by Ren (1998a) as the natural condition. Unfortunately, the species described by Mostovski et al. (2003) do not have bodies, so the existence of a proboscis cannot presently be confirmed. The main distinction between the two Cretaceous genera from eastern Asia is that in Sinocretomyia crossvein r-m and the base of CuA 1 are near the middle of cell d (instead of basally in Palaepangonius ) (fig. 11). In both genera the basal flagellomere is ovoid with an apical attachment of the style.

In Palaepangonius eupterus the proboscis is long, which, along with placement of this species in Tabanidae , prompted Ren (1998b) to interpret this fly as a pollinator of Jurassic angiosperms, for which there is no direct (i.e., pollen) evidence. Various Scaptia and other living pangoniines with long proboscides are effective pollinators (Arroyo et al., 1982). It was later determined that the Yixian Formation is Early Cretaceous in age, not Jurassic ( Swisher et al., 2002), and also that some other Jurassic-Cretaceous insects with long proboscides (including Brachycera) fed on nectar and pollen from extinct Bennettitales and other gymnosperms ( Ren et al., 2009; Peñalver et al., 2015). Thus, inferences about paleodiets can be misleading when based entirely on modern analogs.