TETHEPOMYIIDAE, Grimaldi & Arillo, 2008

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 : 59

FAMILY TETHEPOMYIIDAE

This is a small monophyletic family of five species in two genera, known only in Cretaceous amber from New Jersey, Spain, and Myanmar ( Grimaldi and Cumming, 1999; Grimaldi and Arillo, 2008; Grimaldi et al., 2011). The genus Tethepomyia (diagnosis presented below) consists of four species, one each from New Jersey and Spain, and now two from Myanmar. The highly reduced wing venation of these species has obscured relationships. Fortunately, Tethepomima holomma Grimaldi and Arillo , in Spanish amber, plesiomorphically retains the branching pattern of the major R veins (R 1, R 2+3, R 4+5, which are all unbranched), M (which has no branches), and CuA 1 -CuA 2 is forked apically. Further, there are two small basal cells (br, bm), but no discal cell, and the male genitalia are relatively generalized for Brachycera (well developed gonocoxa and gonostylus, epandrium small and dorsal). The presence of thoracic macrosetae would indicate a close relationship with Eremoneura, but the purported presence of a small tibial spur on each leg would contradict this (indicating a more basal placement). The empodium structure was not reported, so the pretarsi and tibial apices of the unique speci- men of Tethepomima holomma need to be very carefully reexamined. Lastly, the discovery of a female tethepomyiid, Tethepomyia zigrasi Grimaldi in Burmese amber, revealed that this group is probably within or at least closely related to the Mesozoic group Archisargoidea , which is defined largely by the piercing, aculeate female cerci (Grimaldi and Barden, 2016) (see above). In T. zigrasi , the cerci are not only piercing and aculeate, they are hooked ventrally, and apparently pinch against a small, spined sternal lobe (fig. 52C). With little question, these tiny flies were parasitoids, just as the Eremochaetidae and other archisargoids appear to have been ( Zhang et al., 2016; Grimaldi and Barden, 2016). The eremochaetid in Burmese amber lacks tibial spurs, has a 1-segmented cercus and palp, and a single styluslike article on the flagellum (plus a tiny apical style), indicating placement of the Eremochaetidae near the Muscomorpha, but it has a very large pulvilliform empodium. Tethepomyia coxa, n. sp., has either a setiform or highly reduced empodium.