Macrodrilidae fam. nov. (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea), a new family of scale insects in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

ABSTRACT

A new family, genus and species of scale insect is described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. The male specimen of Macrodrilus bostrychus gen et sp. nov. in the new family Macrodrilidae (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea) possesses unique features that together, prohibit its placement in an extant or extinct family. These features include well developed compound eyes with many ommatidia, antenniferous tubercles, smooth, slender flagellomeres, extended apical lobes, venational patterns on the forewings, a series of long waxy filaments attached to the terminal abdominal tergite, a long endophallus that surpasses the length of the body and pellet-shaped spermatophores.

KEYWORDS:

• Sternorrhyncha
• Coccoidea
• waxy filaments
• endophallus
• Macrodrilus gen. nov
• Burmese amber

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Roberta Poinar for comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript and Alex Brown for donating the specimen to the Poinar amber collection.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.