Intriguing and Beautiful: Adamacrocera adami gen. et sp. nov. from the Upper Cretaceous Amber of Myanmar Represents a New Subfamily of Keroplatidae (Diptera: Bibionomorpha)

Simple Summary: The Upper Cretaceous amber of Myanmar (also known as Burmese amber) is almost 100 Mya old and represents invaluable source of information about the evolution of life in the late Mesozoic. Various groups of fossil flies (Diptera) belong to the most abundant insects found in these fossil resins indicating that it was the Mesozoic when the early evolution and radiation of Diptera took place. Here we describe a remarkable fossil fly which combines characters of various other related flies from different families (both extant and fossil) in a very unusual way. This new genus is tentatively placed in the family Keroplatidae (the so called predaceous fungus gnats) pending and stimulating further research into the evolution of lower Diptera.

Abstract: A new fossil genus and species of Keroplatidae (Diptera, Bibionomorpha, Sciaroidea), Adamacrocera adami gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber is described and illustrated. Based on morphological evidence, it is placed in a new subfamily Adamacrocerinae subfam. nov. The new genus, as well as the subfamily, possesses the wing venation characteristic of the genera of some Sciaroidea incertae sedis, as well as that of the fossil families Archizelmiridae, Antefungivoridae and Mesosciophilidae, in combination with macrocerine‐like habitus and male terminalia.