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| Corethrella patula Baranov & Kvifte
in Baranov, Kvifte, Müller & Bernal, 2019.
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Abstract
Frog-biting midges (Diptera: Corethrellidae) are hematophagous flies in which females feed on anuran blood using the mating calls produced by calling male frogs. This family is of large ecological, evolutionary and ethological interest, but its geological history is poorly known. We describe a new species of frog-biting midge (Diptera, Corethrellidae), Corethrella patula sp. nov., from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (ca. 99 Ma). This new species is distinct from Corethrella andersoni, known from the same deposit, differing in having more slender mid femora and a triangular bifid tarsal segment 5 without scales. These two species, however, share an apparent synapomorphy in the wing; R2 vein diverting from R2+3 at 75° angle in relation to R3. The well-preserved male genitalia of the new species suggest C. patula and C. andersoni are a distinct, early lineage not easily placeable within either of the described subgenera of Corethrella.
Keywords: Eavesdropping, Fossil, Frog-biting midges, Micropredator, Taxonomy
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| Speculative reconstruction of Corethrella patula sp. nov. as a micropredator of a hypothetical Alytoidea frog. Male in the foreground, females sitting at the frog.
Reconstruction and art by Gabriel Ugueto.
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Corethrella patula Baranov & Kvifte, sp. nov.
Viktor Baranov, Gunnar M. Kvifte, Patrick Müller and Ximena E. Bernal. 2019. A New Species of Fossil Corethrella (Diptera, Corethrellidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese Amber. Cretaceous Research. 101; 84-91. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2019.05.002
