A New Bethylid Wasp in Lebanese Early Cretaceous Amber (Hymenoptera: Chrysidoidea), with Comments on other Mesozoic Taxa

Abstract

A new genus and species of bethylid wasps is described and figured from a female preserved in Early Cretaceous (Barremian) amber from Lebanon. Holopsenella primotica, new genus and species, is distinguished from other bethylids and segregated into a new subfamily, Holopsenellinae, along with Cretabythus sibiricus Evans in Late Cretaceous (Santonian) Taimyrian amber. Holopsenellines are perhaps basal within the family, representing a stem group to other Bethylidae, and, if so, those features shared with the coeval Lancepyrinae suggest a basal position for that lineage as well. In addition, Lancepyris alavaensis Ortega-Blanco and Engel in Early Cretaceous (Albian) amber from northern Spain is considered generically distinct from the type species of the genus, L. opertus Azevedo and Azar in Lebanese amber, and is transferred to the new genus, Zophepyris, resulting in the new combination, Zophepyris alavaensis (Ortega-Blanco and Engel). The genus Archaepyris Evans, currently considered as incertae sedis within the family, is transferred to Lancepyrinae mostly because it shares the same groundplan traits with Lancepyris.

Evolution and systematics of the Aculeata and kin (Hymenoptera), with emphasis on the ants (Formicoidea: †@@@idae fam. nov., Formicidae)

“…True, or definitive crown Aculeata are undoubtedly present by the midpoint of the Early Cretaceous, as families of the traditional Chrysidoidea—Bethylidae, Scolebythidae, Dryinidae, and Sclerogibbidae, plus the enigmatic †Holopsenellidae—are recorded from Lebanese amber (Hauterivian–Barremian; Prentice et al . 1996; Olmi 2000; Engel & Grimaldi 2006a, 2007; Azevedo & Azar 2012; Engel et al . 2016a), with Embolemidae very recently recovered from the coeval Wealden amber (Perkovsky et al .…”

“…Clade comprising : • †Holopsenellidae Engel et al ., 2016a • Bethylidae Haliday, 1839 with seven subfamilies (see Azevedo et al . 2018 for synopsis and key): †Protopristocerinae Nagy, 1974, Bethylinae Haliday, 1839, Epyrinae Kieffer, 1914, Lancepyrinae Azevedo & Azar, 2012, Mesitiinae Kieffer, 1914, Pristocerinae Mocsáry, 1881, Scleroderminae Kieffer, 1914.…”

First records of the subfamilies Bethylinae (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) and Cleptinae (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae) in Upper Cretaceous amber from France

“…Specimens have been identified in Lower Cretaceous Charentese amber, France (Perrichot et al, 2010) and Upper Cretaceous New Jersey amber, USA (Grimaldi and Nascimbene 2010). Species have been described from the Lower Cretaceous amber of Myanmar (Cockerell 1917a, b;Ross et al, 2010), Lebanon (Azevedo and Azar, 2012;Engel et al, 2016), and Spain (Ortega-Blanco and Engel, 2013), as well as from Upper Cretaceous ambers of Siberia (Evans, 1973;Rasnitsyn, 1990) and Canada (McKellar and Engel, 2014). The family is also known from Cenozoic deposits, such as the Eocene, Baltic, Oise and Rovno ambers (e.g.…”

The first fossil Parascleroderma (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae): a new species in mid-Miocene Zhangpu amber

“…Nine subfamilies were recently recognized in the Bethylidae (Colombo et al, 2020): the extant Bethylinae, Epyrinae, Mesitiinae, Pristocerinae and Scleroderminae, and the extinct Elektroepyrinae, Holopsenellinae, Lancepyrinae and Protopristocerinae. Since then, however, Holopsenella Engel et al, 2016, type genus of the Holopsenellinae, has been removed from Bethylidae and elevated to a family left as incertae sedis in the Aculeata (Lepeco and Melo, 2022).…”