A new Late Cretaceous family of Hymenoptera, and phylogeny of the Plumariidae and Chrysidoidea (Aculeata)

By

Brothers, Denis J.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2011

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

130

Pages

515-542

Subjects

Amber , Classification , fossil , new genus , new species , Plumalexiidae , Plumalexius rasnitsyni

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.130.1591

 

Abstract

The taxonomic placement of an enigmatic species of wasp known from two specimens in Late Cretaceous New Jersey amber is investigated through cladistic analyses of 90 morphological characters for 33 terminals ranging across non-Aculeata, non-Chrysidoidea, most subfamilies of Chrysidoidea and all genera of Plumariidae (the family to which the fossils were initially assigned), based on use of exemplars. The fossil taxon is apparently basal in Chrysidoidea, most likely sister to Plumariidae, but perhaps sister to the remaining chrysidoids, or even sister to Chrysidoidea as a whole. It is described as representing a new family, Plumalexiidae fam. n., containing a single species, Plumalexius rasnitsyni gen. et sp. n. Previous estimates of relationships for the genera of Plumariidae and for the higher taxa of Chrysidoidea are mostly confirmed. The importance of outgroup choice, and additivity and weighting of characters are demonstrated.