Reaching across the ocean of time: A midge morphotype from the Cretaceous of Gondwana found in the Eocene Baltic amber

Baranov, Viktor; Hoffeins, Christel; Hoffeins, Hans-Werner und Haug, Joachim T. (2019): Reaching across the ocean of time: A midge morphotype from the Cretaceous of Gondwana found in the Eocene Baltic amber. In: Palaeontologia Electronica, Bd. 22, Nr. 2, 38A

Abstract

Non-biting midges (Chironomidae) have a fossil record reaching back into the Triassic. The non-biting midge ingroup Libanochlites Brundin, 1976, was so far known from a single species. Fossil specimens of this species came from the Cretaceous of Gondwana, more precisely from Lebanese amber (130 million years). A new species, based on fossils in Eocene Baltic amber, is so similar to the so far single species of Libanochlites that it can only be attributed to this group. This is extending the known geological range of this so far unique morphology by 80 million years. This provides us with the first case of the long-term survival ("Bradytely") of a distinct Mesozoic morphotype of a representative Diptera with aquatic larvae into the Cenozoic. Bradytely is a phenomenon describing evolutionary stasis. This represents a case of bradytely in insects with aquatic larvae and has an impact on our understanding of the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution. Primarily, this record allows us to determine conditions which are permitting the survival of the Mesozoic aquatic insects into the Palaeogene. The conditions are related to the bradytely of the insects with aquatic larvae in the temperate, subtropical forest.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Biologie > Department Biologie II
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie
• ISSN: 1935-3952
• Sprache: Englisch