New flat wasps from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber deposits highlight the bethylid antiquity and paleobiogeography (Hymenoptera: Chrysidoidea)

Examination of Hkamti and Tanai Burmese ambers reveals two new genera and species of tLancepyrinae: Protopyris myanmarensis Jouault & Nel gen. et sp. nov. and Burmapyris azevedoi Jouault, Perrichot & Nel gen. et sp. nov. Protopyris Jouault & Nel gen. nov. is the first Bethylidae described from amber of the Hkamti deposit (lower Albian, mid-Cretaceous) in Myanmar. These specimens provide useful clues to understand the paleobiogeographic evolution of the tLancepyrinae, since they are only predated by genera described from Lebanese and Spanish amber. These new taxa suggest a major paleobiogeographic scenario, since Burmese amber was probably produced on an island that separated from Gondwana during the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. It thus suggests a possible earlier origin for the tLancepyrinae, and thereby for the Bethylidae, in the Late Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous. 0 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Examination of Burmese ambers reveals two new genera and species of tLancepyrinae, providing useful clues to understand the paleobiogeographic evolution of the group and suggesting a major paleobiogeographic scenario related to the separation of an island from Gondwana during the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous.