CRETACEOUS ACULEATE WASPS FROM 
TAIMYR, SIBERIA ( HYMENOPTERA) * 
By Howard E. Evans 
Mliseum of Comparative Zoology 1 
It seems incredible that only 16 years ago no aculeate Hymenop- 
tera were known from the Mesozoic. In 1957 Sharov described 
Cretavus from the Upper Cretaceous, an enigmatic form almost 
certainly belonging to the Scolioidea. Ten years later Wilson, 
Carpenter, and Brown described a beautifully preserved worker ant 
from Upper Cretaceous amber, and in 1969 I described two dis- 
similar wasps from the Upper Cretaceous and an undoubted aculeate 
wing from the Lower Cretaceous. Thus within a few years it be- 
came evident that the Aculeata were well diversified by the end of 
the Mesozoic. Recent finds in the U.S.S.R. have more than con- 
firmed that impression, and When fully described will document a 
radiation so pronounced that events in the Tertiary will appear 
anticlimactic. 
It is the purpose of this brief report to provide names and de- 
scriptions for several striking wasps occurring in Upper Cretaceous 
amber from the Taimyr Peninsula, Siberia. These specimens were 
kindly made available to me for study by Dr. A. Rasnitsyn of the 
Palaeontological Institute of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, 
Moscow. All specimens have been returned for deposit in that in- 
stitution. All specimens bear the following data, as supplied by 
Dr. Rasnitsyn: North Siberia, Taimyr Peninsula, Maimetcha River 
[a branch of the Kheta River, Khatanga Basin], Yantardakh Hill 
[3 km up from mouth of the Maimetcha] ; amber of Upper Cre- 
taceous age, Coniacian-Santonian stage, Kheta formation. 
This material contains several relatively well-preserved, more or 
less complete specimens. As might be anticipated, some of them are 
quite generalized and difficult to place in the commonly accepted 
superfamilies. One of these I tentatively place in the Scolebythidae, 
a recently-described family that I consider annectant between the 
Scolioidea and Bethyloidea. Another I interpret as a probable gen- 
®Published with the aid of a grant from the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology. 
Present address: Dept, of Entomology and Zoology, Colorado State Univ., 
Fort Collins, Colorado 80521. 
Manuscript received by the editor , June 7 , 1973. 
