Paleogenia wahisi Waichert and Pitts, 2016

Rodriguez, Juanita, Waichert, Cecilia, Von Dohlen, Carol D., Jr., George Poinar & Pitts, James P., 2016, Eocene and not Cretaceous origin of spider wasps: Fossil evidence from amber, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 61 (1), pp. 89-96 : 93

Paleogenia wahisi Waichert and Pitts sp. nov.

Fig. 3 .

Etymology: In honour of Raymond Wahis who has greatly contributed to our knowledge of Pompilidae biodiversity.

Holotype: Complete male inclusion, OSAC Hy-10-80a.

Type locality: Kaliningrad Region, Baltic Sea, Russia.

Type horizon: Baltic amber, late Eocene.

Material.— Five specimens: 4 male, 1 female ( OSAC Hy-10- 80a–e), all from the type locality and horizon .

Diagnosis.—Wing hyaline; maximum width 0.45× its length; cells short and rounded; 2Rs cell about the same size as 1Rs; 2m-cu vein slightly curved, meeting 2Rs cell 0.5× distance from base to apex of cell; 2 R 1 ending on apex of the forewing instead of anterior margin; mid and hind tarsi pale brown with apex black; and 2M cell without an inflection at the base of the Cu vein.

Description.—Male. Body length 2.55 mm. Forewing 2.04 mm. Integument black; tarsomeres, fore and mid tibia brown; mid and hind tarsi pale brown, apex black; metasoma black. Punctation inconspicuous. Head with sides convergent ventrally, vertex much broader than frons; clypeus short, trapezoidal; mandible with two sharpened apical teeth. Antennae short; ratio of first four segments 7:5:6:7; WA3 0.8× LA3; WA4 0.8× LA4. Pronotum short, width 2.0× length, posterior margin concave; pronotal disc well defined. Tibiae and tarsi with short sparse spines, almost smooth. Wing long; length of 2 R 1 cell 0.8× distance from edge to apex of wing; 2Rs as long as 1Rs; 2m-cu vein curved, meeting 2Rs cell 0.4× distance from base to apex of cell. Metasoma 0.9× as long as mesosoma.

Allotype.— Complete female inclusion OSAC-Hy-10-80b. Body length 3.8 mm. Forewing ~ 2.5 mm (forewing is folded). Integument black; front and mid tibia and tarsi, hind tarsi pale brown; palpi pale brown. Clypeus, antennae, mesosoma and wing as described for male. Metasoma 1.2× as long as mesosoma; stinger straight.

Remarks. — This species was probably a cleptoparasitoid pompilid. It shares characteristics of other pompilid cleptoparasitoids, such as short antennal segments with thick conspicuous setae. No extant species of Pepsini are known to act as cleptoparasites; the only representatives of the subfamily with this behaviour recorded or suspected are placed within Ageniellini ( Poecilagenia ), Deuterageniini ( Nipponodipogon ), and within Psoropempulini ( Psoropempula Evans, 1974 ).

Stratigraphic and geographic range. — Eocene Baltic amber of the Kaliningrad region of Russia.

Figures

Fig. 3. Spider wasp Paleogenia wahisi Waichert and Pitts sp. nov.holotype, OSAC Hy-10-80, male specimen, from late Eocene Baltic amber, Kaliningrad Region, Baltic Sea, Russia. A. Habitus in lateral view. B. Head. C. Forewing. Photographs (A1, B1), camera lucida illustrations (A2, B2, C).