The first protopsyllidiid (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha) from the Upper Jurassic of Australia

Abstract

The Protopsyllidiidae are an extinct group of plant-sucking hemipterans that were distributed worldwide. However, Jurassic and Cretaceous taxa have only been reported from the Northern Hemisphere. Here we describe and illustrate a new protopsylliidid, Talbragaropsyllidium averyi gen. et sp. nov., based on 11 well-preserved specimens from the Upper Jurassic Talbragar Fish Bed of New South Wales, Australia. These specimens represent the first Jurassic protopsyllidiid documented from both the Southern Hemisphere and Gondwana, which significantly extends the distributional and stratigraphical range of the family.

Yuling Li [[email protected]] and Su-Chin Chang [[email protected]], Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; Michael Frese [[email protected]], Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT 2601, Australia; Robert Beattie [[email protected]], Australian Museum Research Institute, 1 William Street, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia; Jun Chen [[email protected]], Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Shuangling Road, Linyi 276000, China; Yuling Li and Jun Chen also affiliated with State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China.

Keywords:

• Protopsyllidiidae, Talbragar Fish Bed, Gondwana, Lagerstätte, lacustrine

Acknowledgements

We thank Nigel McGrath (landholder) and Michael Sharp (National Parks and Wildlife Services NSW) for access to the site. Matthew McCurry (AM) registered and lent fossils for study. Suchir Patil assisted with drawing the geological map. Simon McClusky (Australian National University) provided aerial mapping. Rolf Oberprieler (CSIRO) contributed helpful discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. Steven Avery, Jack Hinde and other volunteers helped with field work. Comments from the Editorial Board of Alcheringa improved the structure and presentation of our manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [XDB26000000] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [41688103]. Y.L. was supported by a PhD stipend from Hong Kong University [RGC/GRF #17300718 and #17300320].