A new whitefly (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Aleyrodidae) in mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, northern Myanmar

Whiteflies (Aleyrodidae) are tiny hemipteran insects with specialized ontogeny and morphology. A new extinct taxon, Paraburmoselis kachinensis gen. et sp. nov., is erected herein based upon a fossil whitefly trapped in the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber from northern Myanmar. Paraburmoselis gen. nov., as the fourth genus of the Mesozoic subfamily Bernaeinae, can be distinguished from its con-subfamilials by possessing a series of unique features: metatarsi with basitarsomere long, about 1.5 times as long as apical tarsomere; forewings with the wing membrane sclerotized and darkly coloured, peripheral membrane relatively thin, a peripheral vein distinct, and MP separated from MP+CuA almost at the same level as the bifurcation of R. In addition, the inconsistency of the reconstruction of aleyrodomorph origin and evolutionary history inferred from different data types (i.e., morphology, molecular phylogenetics and palaeontology) is presented and briefly discussed.