A new species of Sycorax (Sycoracinae: Psychodidae) from the Lower Eocene amber of Tadkeshwar, Gujarat, India

Abstract

A new species Sycorax longistyla has been recovered in amber from the Tadkeshwar Lignite Mine, Cambay Basin, Gujarat. It belongs to the Sycoracinae, a subfamily of tiny flies, some of which prey on amphibian blood, well-preserved in the Early Eocene Cambay amber. Females of most species have functional mandibles. The new species is distinguished from the extant and extinct representatives by possessing an elongate tubular gonocoxite with a large internal lobe, the gonostylus is curved and longer than the gonocoxite and bears a strong apical spine 0.6 times the length of the gonostylus. The species occurred in sludge-based peat bog spring habitats that existed in the Early Eocene tropical angiosperm Cambay forest.