The first fossil genus and two new species of the worldwide tribe Prosopochrysini (Diptera: Stratiomyidae: Stratiomyinae) found in Dominican and Mexican ambers

ABSTRACT

Stratiomyidae is one of the most species-rich and morphologically diversified Diptera families of the orthorraphous Brachycera. Despite the large species diversity and prevalence in various environments, soldier flies are rare in the fossil records, especially in amber deposits. Here we present the first two Prosopochrysini fossils from Miocene amber. The fossils are assigned to a new genus—Cenorhaphiocerina gen. nov.— included in the extant tribe Prosopochrysini, with the description of two species, C. dominicana sp. nov. from amber mines in the Dominican Republic and C. kraemerae sp. nov. from amber areas in Simojovel, Chiapas, Mexico. The new genus and species are compared with other extant genera of Prosopochrysini. We postulate that Cenorhaphiocerina gen. nov. likely forms a group with the extant genera Acanthasargus White, 1914, Hoplistopsis James, 1950, Rhaphiocerina Lindner, 1936 and the species Prosopochrysa azurea (Lindner, 1951), that should be placed in a separate genus, based on the presence of four medial wing veins, upper and lower frons in the head contrasting in colour, and of some level of dichoptic eyes configuration in males.

https://zoobank.org:act:1163F677-D54F-4CB8-A11B-9072E76EE91Fhttps://zoobank.org:act:ADDDBA20-883B-41FB-9C28-3F11E3C34308https://zoobank.org:act:567CEBF3-7E6D-4128-981D-3CC1DB25F0D5

KEYWORDS:

• lower Brachycera
• Dominican amber
• Mexican amber
• prosopochrysine
• soldier fly

Acknowledgments

We thank Norman E. Woodley for sharing knowledge about the identity of the prosopochysine genera and reviewing the manuscript. We also thank an anonymous reviewer for valuable suggestions to improve the text.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This was supported by a postdoctoral scholarship funded by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Código de Financiamento 001, grant #88887.473150/2020-00 to DAF.