Fossil water striders in Cretaceous French amber (Heteroptera: Gerromorpha: Mesoveliidae and Veliidae)
Abstract
Fossil gerromorphan bugs from the Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian boundary) amber of Charentes, SW France, are reviewed. A larva described by Perrichot et al. (2005) as incertae familiae within the Gerromorpha is now placed in the Mesoveliidae. Three new genera and species are also described and illustrated: Emilianovelia audax Solórzano Kraemer & Perrichot, gen. et sp.n., and Malenavelia videris Solórzano Kraemer & Perrichot, gen. et sp.n., which are placed in the Mesoveliidae: Mesoveliinae; and Arcantivelia petraudi Solórzano Kraemer & Perrichot, gen. et sp.n., which is the first Mesozoic member of the Veliinae. The relationships between these fossils and their palaeoecology are discussed. The new discoveries confirm the antiquity of the semi-aquatic gerromorphans, particularly the clade (Veliidae + Gerridae). The habitat is described as aquatic and likely marine-influenced, yet adaptation to a fully marine habitat in these gerromorphans remains difficult to establish.This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F8C034B8-7BD0-4C03-B8FC-CD81D75C7001.
- Publication:
-
Systematic Entomology
- Pub Date:
- July 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1111/syen.12077
- Bibcode:
- 2014SysEn..39..590S