A new long-proboscid genus of Pseudopolycentropodidae (Mecoptera) from the Middle Jurassic of China and its plant-host specializations

By

Shih, ChungKun
Yang, Xiaoguang
Labandeira, Conrad Christopher, 1950-
Ren, Dong, 1963-

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2011

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

130

Pages

281-297

Subjects

Pseudopolycentropodidae, fossil scorpionfly, new t

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.130.1641

 

Abstract

We describe a new genus and species of Mecoptera with siphonate mouthparts, Sinopolycentropus rasnitsyni gen. et sp. n., assigned to the family Pseudopolycentropodidae Handlirsch, 1925. The specimen was collected from late middle Jurassic nonmarine strata of the Jiulongshan Formation in Inner Mongolia, northeastern China. The new material provides additional evidence for an early diversification of pseudopolycentropodids that was ongoing during the middle Jurassic. This diversity also adds to the variety of known pseudopolycentropodids with tubular proboscides that apparently fed on ovulate fluids produced by Mesozoic gymnosperms.