Five new species of the extinct family Eoptychopteridae are described from Asia. They are Eoptychoptera shurabica n.sp. (Lower or Middle Jurassic, Kyrgyzstan), E. elevata n.sp., Propty chopterina immensa n.sp., P. tenera n.sp. (last three from the Upper Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous, Siberia), and P. makarov a n.sp. (Lower Jurassic, Siberia).Five new species of the extinct family Eoptychopteridae are described from Asia. They are Eoptychoptera shurabica n.sp. (Lower or Middle Jurassic, Kyrgyzstan), E. elevata n.sp., Propty chopterina immensa n.sp., P. tenera n.sp. (last three from the Upper Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous, Siberia), and P. makarov a n.sp. (Lower Jurassic, Siberia)

Lukashevich, E. D.

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

25
Five new species of Eoptychopteridae (Diptera)
from the Mesozoic of Asia
E.D. LUKASHEVICH
Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya 123, 117647 Moscow, Russia.
ACTA GEOLOGICA HISPANICA,v. 35 (2000),nº 1-2,p. 25-30
ABSTRACT
Five new species of the extinct fa m i ly Eoptychopteridae are described from Asia. T h ey are E o p t y ch o p t e ra shurab i c a n.sp. (Lo-
wer or Middle Jurassic, Ky rgyzstan), E. elev a t a n.sp., P ro p t y chopterina immensa n.sp., P. tenera n.sp. (last three from the Upper Ju-
rassic or Lower Cretaceous, Siberia), and P. makarov a n.sp. (Lower Jurassic, Siberia).
Key wo rd s . Diptera. Eoptychopteridae. Mesozoic. Siberia. Ky rgyzstan. Venation. Ta x o n o my. Ecolog y.
I N T RO D U C T I O N
The Eoptychopteridae, an extinct psychodomorp h
dipteran fa m i ly, ancestral to recent Ptychopteridae, we r e
widespread throughout Europe and Asia in the Mesozoic
( L u k a s h evich et al., 1998). In the rich collections housed
at the Pa l e o n t o l ogical Institute, Moscow (PIN), isolated
wings of five new species are found and described below
from three Jurassic (and possibly Lower Cretaceous)
Asiatic localities. 
All new species are representatives of two genera:
E o p t y ch o p t e ra HANDLIRSCH 1906 and P ro p t y ch o p t e r i-
n a K A L U G I NA 1985. Eoptychoptera was a ve ry wides-
pread genus. It is known from the Early Jurassic to Early
Cretaceous, in the most ancient localities of Asia (Sog-
j u t y, Ky rgyzstan) and Europe (Dobbertin, Germ a ny), as
well as in the youngest deposits with Eoptychopteridae
(Baisa, Russia, and Purbeck, England). Another genus,
P ro p t y ch o p t e r i n a, is known only from Jurassic beds of
Asia (Lukashevich et al., 1998).
Localities which eoptychopterids are described from
c o rrespond to different paleoenvironments. The collec-
tion of the insect impressions from Shurab locality
( Ky rgyzstan, Lower or Middle Jurassic) is quite rich
(3583 specimens), but Diptera are ex t r e m e ly rare (50 im-
pressions, including two eoptychopterids described be-
l ow). Consequently, the aquatic dipterans (with aquatic
preimaginal stages), often ve ry abundant (and sometimes
dominant) group in the Mesozoic, did not play their usual
i m p o rtant role in this assemblage. So this site may belong
to the Type B in the classification of Sinichenkova and
Zherikhin (1996) as well as Ust’-Baley locality, where pu-
pae of eoptychopterids were found. Based on the Sini-
c h e n kova and Zherikhin (l.c.) reconstruction these assem-
blages were restricted to the shallow small ox b ow lake s
with abundant allochthonous detritus in river va l l eys - the
typical habitat of recent Ptychopteridae (Alex a n d e r,
1927). Howeve r, in the Shurab area, unlike Ust’-Baley,
the dissolved oxygen concentration in ox b ow lakes wa s
p r o b a bly not so high as is postulated for this extinct type
of lacustrine ecosystems because of a wa rmer climate, bu t
26
Figure 1. 1-2 Wings of new species of Eoptychoptera, 3-5 Wings of new species of Proptychopterina. 1. - E o p t y ch o p t e ra shurab i c a
LUKASHEVICH n.sp., holotype PIN, No.2389/684; 2.- E o p t y ch o p t e ra elev a t a LUKASHEVICH n.sp., holotype PIN, No.923/1065;
3. - P ro p t y chopterina tenera LUKASHEVICH n.sp., holotype PIN, No.923/1063; 4. - P ro p t y chopterina immensa L U K A S H E V I C H
n.sp., holotype PIN, No.923/786; 5. - P ro p t y chopterina makarov a LUKASHEVICH n.sp., holotype PIN, No.1256/150. Scale bar
1 m m .
such highly oxygenated environments are not necessary
for recent Ptychopteridae. On the contrary, their pre-
imaginal stages have got some adaptations for the respi-
ration of atmospheric oxygen in unstable env i r o n m e n t s
(Hodkinson, 1973). Pupae of eoptychopterids are remar-
k a bly similar to those of Ptychopteridae (Lukashev i c h ,
1995), so a similar life mode is highly probabl e .
Another locality, Ke m p e n d y ay (Yakutia, Upper Juras-
sic or Lower Cretaceous), differs from the form e r. A b o u t
1200 insect impressions have been found there, and 152
of them belong to the Diptera (more than 10% of this
collection; most of them are badly damaged). Till now the
age of this assemblage remains uncertain, but the beds are
doubtless fluvial (Sinitshenkova, 1992). The diversity of
the Eoptychopteridae is quite high: four species in three
genera, altogether nine specimens: holotype of C re n o p t y-
ch o p t e ra gro n s k a y a e described by Kalugina (1989),
s even specimens treated below, and one (PIN, No.
923/1149) too poorly preserved to identify it below the
fa m i ly leve l .
The third locality, Krasnoyarsk (Siberia, Lower Juras-
sic), is more like ly of a fluvial origin but the collection of
insect impressions is too small for any reliable conclu-
sions on paleoenvironments. About 150 identifi a ble re-
mains are ava i l a ble, only 18 of which belong to the Dip-
tera. One complete wing of an eoptychopterid is
described below, while two other fragments (wing and
body) of eoptychopterids were recorded as ?C re n o p t y-
ch o p t e ra spp. by Kalugina (Kalugina and Kova l ev, 1985).
H oweve r, it is known now that the r-m position before the
Rs furcation (as in specimen PIN, No. 1256/62) could be
met within E o p t y ch o p t e ra as well, so the generic place-
ment of these fossils are in fact uncert a i n .
One can see that the finds of the Eoptychopteridae are
rather common in localities of fluvial origin or, at least,
connected with river va l l eys. Hence, the presence of at
least small-sized species of Eoptychopteridae seems to be
h i g h ly probable also in fossil resins, especially of a reti-
nite-type, which often originate from riverine forests
(Zherikhin and Sukacheva, 1992). Howeve r, no eopty-
chopterids have been found from the Upper Cretaceous
resins which are now relative ly well-studied at least in
Asia and North America; most probably, the fa m i ly has
became extinct somewhere in Mid-Cretaceous times. T h e
Ptychopteridae of similar ecology which cert a i n ly ex i s t e d
in the Late Cretaceous are relative ly large and thus the
probability of their burial in resins is low. If so, one may
predict that Eoptychopteridae will be discovered in Lowe r
Cretaceous ambers which are still insuffi c i e n t ly studied.
I n d e e d, ve ry recently several specimens were recovered in
the Lebanese amber of supposedly Barremian or A p t i a n
age (Lukashevich and A z a r, in preparation); also other in-
sect-bearing Lower Cretaceous resins such as the English
( Wealden), Austrian (Gölling) and Spanish (Alava) “am-
bers” should be of interest in this respect. In the latter
about seven hundreds of dipterans have been recorded,
but a great number of these flies are still not studied
( S z a d z i ewski and Arillo, 1998).
All specimens described below are housed in the Pa-
l e o n t o l ogical Institute, Moscow (PIN).
Venation nomenclature as in Shcherbakov et al., 1995;
a b b r eviation as in Lukashevich et al., 1998.
S Y S T E M AT I C S
Fa m i ly : Eoptychopteridae HANDLIRSCH, 1906
GENUS E o p t y ch o p t e ra HANDLIRSCH 1906
E o p t y ch o p t e ra shura b i c a LUKASHEVICH n.sp.
Figure 1.1
E t y m o l ogy : From Shurab locality.
Material examined: Holotype.- PIN, No.2389/684, in-
complete impression of isolated wing without anal part ;
Ky rgyzstan, Osh Region, Batken District, 10 km south of
Samarkandek, Shurab (= Say Sagul) locality; Lower -
Middle Jurassic. Other material: PIN, No.2389/685. It is
p o s s i ble that this incomplete wing impression belongs to
the species.
D e s c r i p t i o n : Length of preserved wing impression 5.2
mm; probable total length no less than 6.0 mm. Wing with
an elongate pale pterostigma, otherwise spotless. Sc ter-
minating somewhat distal to R4 + 5 furcation which is
situated distal to M3 + 4 furcation. Sc apex and points of
R4 + 5 and M3 + 4 furcations are at the straight line and Sc
a p ex is the most distal point. R2 + 3 1.6 times longer than R3.
R2 near the level of M1 + 2 furcation. dR1 6 times longer
than R2. R4 + 5 fork 2.4 times longer than R4 + 5. Crossve i n
r-m situated just beyond the point of Rs furcation. Ve i n
M1 + 2 in straight prolongation of M stem. mM1+2 7.5 times
longer than bM1 + 2. bM3 + 4 s l i g h t ly shorter than m-cu.
C o m p a r i s o n : This species resembles E . v i t re a L U-
KASHEVICH 1998 from the Early Jurassic of Ky rg y z s-
tan, differing in the inclination of the straight line, con-
27
28
Figure 2. 1. - Proptychopterina makarova LUKASHEVICH n.sp., holotype PIN, No.1256/150; 2. - Proptychopterina tenera LUKAS-
HEVICH n.sp., holotype PIN, No.923/1063; 3. - Proptychopterina immensa LUKASHEVICH n.sp., holotype PIN, No.923/786; 4. -
Eoptychoptera elevata LUKASHEVICH n.sp., holotype PIN, No.923/1065.
necting the Sc apex and the points of R4 + 5 and M3 + 4 f u r-
cations (in E . v i t re a M3 + 4 furcation is the most distal
point), and M stem forking asymmetrically.
E o p t y ch o p t e ra eleva t a LUKASHEVICH n.sp.
Figures 1.2 and 2.4
E t y m o l ogy : From Latin e l ev a t u s (raised), on account
of the position of M1 + 2 f o r k .
Material examined: Holotype.- PIN, No.923/1065, in-
complete positive and nega t ive impression of isolated
wing without proximal part; Yakutia-Sakha, Suntar Dis-
trict, right bank of the Ke m p e n d y ay River 40 km up-
stream from Ke m p e n d y ay, Ke m p e n d y ay locality; Upper
Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous.
D e s c r i p t i o n : Length of preserved wing impression
5.4 mm; probable total length no less than 10.0 mm. Wi n g
with an elongate pale pterostigma, otherwise spotless. Sc
t e rminating proximal to R4 + 5 furcation which is situated
distal to M3 + 4 furcation. R2 + 3 1.7 times longer than R3. R2
p r oximal to M1 + 2 furcation. dR1 4 times longer than R2.
R4 + 5 fork 1.6 times longer than R4 + 5. Crossvein r-m situa-
ted not beyond the point of Rs furcation. M1 + 2 a l i g n e d
with M2. Crossvein im is almost at M1 + 2 f u r c a t i o n .
C o m p a r i s o n : This species resembles E. maxima ( K a-
lugina, 1985) from the Middle Jurassic of Siberia, bu t
M1 + 2 forking symmetrically in the latter.
G E N U S P ro p t y ch o p t e r i n aK A L U G I NA 1985
P ro p t y chopterina teneraLUKASHEVICH n.sp.
Figures 1.3 and 2.2
E t y m o l ogy : From Latin t e n e r ( t e n d e r ) .
Material examined: Holotype.- PIN, No.923/1063,
p o s i t ive and nega t ive impression of an isolated wing; Ya-
kutia-Sakha, Suntar District, right bank of the Ke m p e n d-
y ay River 40 km upstream from Ke m p e n d y ay, Ke m p e n d-
y ay locality; Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous. Other
material: an incomplete impression of isolated wing PIN,
N o . 9 2 3 / 1 0 6 4 .
D e s c r i p t i o n : Wing length 7.2-9.4 mm. Wing with an
e l o n gate pale pterostigma, otherwise spotless. Sc term i-
nating at the level of R4 + 5 furcation and distal to M3 + 4 f u r-
cation. R2 4 times shorter than dR1. R4 + 5 fork 1.3-2.4
times longer than R4 + 5. Crossvein r-m situated about mid-
length of R4 + 5, distal to M3 + 4 furcation, 3.5 times short e r
than dM1 + 2. R2= i m < r- m = b M3 + 4. dM1 + 2 6 times longer
than mM1 + 2, which subequal to crossvein im. Cell d
subequal to M1 + 2 fork. bM3 4 times longer than im.
b M3 + 4 2 times longer than m-cu. 1A distad of cu-a retai-
ned as rather long spur.
C o m p a r i s o n : This species resembles P. ev e c t a L U-
KASHEVICH 1993 from the Late Jurassic of Kazakhs-
tan, but bM3 + 4 subequal to m-cu in the latter.
R e m a rk s : Such large variation of the ratio R4 + 5 f o r k
to R4 + 5 occurs in P. handlirs h i and P. yeniseica too. It
m ay be the sexual dimorphism that is responsible, bu t
the assumption remains unsteady since all impressions
(aside from the holotype of P. yeniseica) are isolated
w i n g s .
P ro p t y chopterina immensaLUKASHEVICH n.sp.
Figures 1.4 and 2.3
E t y m o l ogy : From Latin i m m e n s u s ( l a rg e ) .
Material examined: Holotype.- PIN, No.923/786, in-
complete positive and nega t ive impression of an isolated
wing; Yakutia-Sakha, Suntar District, right bank of the
Ke m p e n d y ay River 40 km upstream from Ke m p e n d y ay,
Ke m p e n d y ay locality; Upper Jurassic - Lower Creta-
ceous. Other material: positive and nega t ive impressions
of incomplete wings PIN, No. 923/1066, 1085, 1128. It is
p o s s i ble that these impressions belong to the species.
D e s c r i p t i o n : Length of preserved wing impression
8.4 mm; probable total length no less than 15.0 mm. Wi n g
with an elongate pale pterostigma, otherwise spotless. Sc
t e rminating at the level of R4 + 5 furcation and distal to
M3 + 4 furcation. Rs forked ve ry early, near the base of d
cell (about 0.15 of its length). Crossvein r-m situated
about midlength of R4 + 5, distal to M3 + 4 furcation, 3 times
s h o rter than dM1 + 2. R2< i m < r- m = b M3 + 4. dM1 + 2 2.5 times
longer than mM1 + 2, which subequal to r-m. bM3 2.5 times
longer than crossvein im.
C o m p a r i s o n : All other species are smaller and with
Rs forked later (at least at 0.3 of the length of d cell,
u s u a l ly later).
P ro p t y chopterina makarovaLUKASHEVICH n.sp.
Figures 1.5 and 2.1
29
E t y m o l ogy : From Makarova Fo rm a t i o n .
Material examined: Holotype: PIN, No.1256/150,
well preserved positive and nega t ive impression of an
isolated wing without base; Krasnoyarsk Province, left
bank of the Ye n i s ey River downstream from Krasno-
yarsk, opposite the downstream edge of island Ta t y s h ev,
K r a s n oyarsk (=Ta t y s h ev) locality; Lower Jurassic, Ma-
k a r ova Fo rm a t i o n .
D e s c r i p t i o n : Wing length 6.4 mm. Wing with an
e l o n gate pale pterostigma, otherwise spotless. Sc term i-
nating proximal to R4 + 5 furcation and distal to M3+4 f u r-
cation. R2 4 times shorter than dR1. R4 + 5 fork subequal
to M3 + 4 fork and 1.5 times longer than R4 + 5. Crossve i n
r-m situated about midlength of R4 + 5, distal to M3 + 4 f u r-
cation, 2.5 times shorter than dM1 + 2. R2< i m < r-
m < b M3 + 4. dM1 + 2 3 times longer than mM1 + 2, wh i c h
subequal to crossvein im. Cell d subequal to M1 + 2 f o r k
and 1.4 shorter than M3 + 4 fork. bM3 3 times longer than
c r o s s vein im. bM3 + 4 subequal to crossvein m-cu.
C o m p a r i s o n : This species resembles P. shara t eg i c a
K A L U G I NA 1992 from the Late Jurassic of Mongolia,
d i ffering in relative ly shorter R4 + 5 fork and longer
m M1 + 2 (in P. shara t eg i c a R4 + 5 fork twice longer than
R4 + 5 and dM1 + 2 5 times longer than mM1 + 2) .
AC K N OW L E D G E M E N T S
We are grateful to Dr. D.E. Shcherbakov for help in prepa-
ration of photographs and Dr. V. V. Zherikhin (both PIN, Mos-
c ow) for rev i ewing the manuscript. We would like to ex p r e s s
our sincere thanks to Dr. Ryszard Szadziewski (Gdansk, Po-
land) and Dr. Antonio Arillo (Madrid, Spain) for critical re-
v i ew of the manuscript.
The research was granted by the Pa l e o n t o l ogical Society
via the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Fo u n d a t i o n
for the Independent States of the Fo rmer Soviet Union
( C R D F ) .
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lenis (Diptera: Ptychopteridae) with notes on their biolog y.
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Kalugina, N.S., 1989. New Mesozoic psychodomorph dipteran
insects from Sibiria (Diptera: Eoptychopteridae, Ptychopte-
ridae). Paleont. Zhur., 1989 (1), 65-77 [in Russian].
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30


Five new species of Eoptychopteridae (Diptera) from the Mesozoic of Asia

Five new species of the extinct family Eoptychopteridae are described from Asia. They are Eoptychoptera shurabica n.sp. (Lower or Middle Jurassic, Kyrgyzstan), E. elevata n.sp., Propty chopterina immensa n.sp., P. tenera n.sp. (last three from the Upper Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous, Siberia), and P. makarov a n.sp. (Lower Jurassic, Siberia)

LUKASHEVICH, E.D.

Revistes CientÃ­fiques de la Universitat de Barcelona

English

https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/ActaGeologica/article/download/4729/6141

Five new species of Eoptychopteridae (Diptera) from the Mesozoic of Asia

Abstract

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Five new species of Eoptychopteridae (Diptera) from the Mesozoic of Asia

Abstract

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Full text

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Revistes CientÃ­fiques de la Universitat de Barcelona

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