Archisargoid flies (Diptera, Brachycera, Archisargidae and Kovalevisargidae) from the Jurassic Daohugou biota of China, and the related biostratigraphical correlation and geological age

Abstract

Nine impression fossils of archisargoid flies were examined, described here as eight species (seven new), in seven genera (two new): Archirhagio mostovskii sp. nov., Archirhagio varius sp. nov., Mesosolva huabeiensis (Hong, 1983), Novisargus rarus gen. et sp. nov., Ovisargus (Ovisargus) singulus sp. nov., Sharasargus maculus sp. nov., Tabanisargus daohugouensis gen. et sp. nov. (Archisargidae) and Kovalevisargus haifanggouensis sp. nov. (Kovalevisargidae). These findings suggest that archisargoid flies were already highly diverse in the Daohugou biota. Furthermore, there is a very close resemblance between the Daohugou and Karatau biotas, consistent with the numerous other genera of insects shared between the Daohugou and Karabastau formations. The geological age for the archisargoid-bearing non-marine volcano-sedimentary rocks is reassessed as latest Middle Jurassic (Callovian) – earliest Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) related to that of the Karabastau Formation, rather than Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation or the Early Cretaceous Dabeigou and/or Yixian formations.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6B735695-DE37-4933-B449-B5EDE7A8A73A

Keywords:

• Diptera
• Archisargidae
• Kovalevisargidae
• new taxa
• Daohugou biota
• biostratigraphical correlation
• geological age

Acknowledgements

I am deeply indebted to Dr Vladimir A. Blagoderov (Sackler Biodiversity Imaging Lab, Natural History Museum, London, UK) and Dr Bradley J. Sinclair (Canadian National Collection of Insects and Ottawa Plant Laboratory – Entomology, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canada) for critical remarks and improving the previous version of the manuscript. I also sincerely thank Dr S. Bruce Archibald (Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Canada) for suggesting edits to the English. The research was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program 2012CB821906) and the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y421120502).