A new fossil genus near Meghyperus Loew from Baltic amber (Diptera: Atelestidae)

Abstract

The Atelestidae are a small family of empidoid flies (Diptera: Empidoidea), including 15 recent species in five genera (Sinclair & Grimaldi, 2020). In contrast, they have a rather high fossil diversity (Table 1), with 28 species in nine genera. These fossil taxa are almost entirely from Cretaceous ambers (Canadian, Lebanese, Myanmar, New Jersey, Spanish), and prior to this study only a single described species from Baltic amber (Nemedina eocenica Sinclair & Arnaud, 2001) was known. The extant species are widespread, with two Afrotropical, three Neotropical, two Nearctic and eight Palaearctic species. This family is recognized within the Empidoidea on the basis of their well-developed anal lobe of the wing, distinct alula, R4+5 unforked, M1+2 usually unforked or forked beyond cell dm, cell cua long, at least as long as cell bm, female tergite 10 absent, male terminalia symmetrical and unrotated, with elongate gonocoxal apodemes and shortened hypandrium (Chvála, 1983; Grimaldi & Cumming, 1999; Sinclair & Cumming, 2006).