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Earliest evidence of fishflies (Megaloptera: Corydalidae): an exquisitely preserved larva from the Middle Jurassic of China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Bo Wang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China,
Haichun Zhang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China,

Abstract

Megaloptera is a small order of insects that is very rare in the fossil record. Jurochauliodes ponomarenkoi n. gen. n. sp. belonging to Chauliodinae (fishflies) within Corydalidae is described based on three larvae preserved in tuffaceous siltstones from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou, China. It is not only the first fossil Megaloptera from China, but also the earliest Corydalidae. It differs from Cretochaulus lacustris Ponomarenko, 1976 in having a large body, head much longer than mandibles, mandibles wide, with a small apical tooth, meso- and metathorax half as long as prothorax, profemora apically widened, abdominal segment IX short, and lateral gills shorter than hind legs. This discovery indicates that fishflies originated at least in the Middle Jurassic.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society

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