Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

Wasp mimicry among Palaeocene reduviid bug from Svalbard

Torsten Wappler, Romain Garrouste, Michael S. Engel, and André Nel

Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 58 (4), 2013: 883-887 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.2011.0202

The enigmatic Svalbard Palaeocene fossil taxon Hymenopterites deperditus is revised, and is neither a wasp nor a plant seed, but turns out to be a bug hemelytra corresponding to the oldest described reduviid bug. It can be attributable to the “emesine−saicine clade”. The presence in the Svalbard Palaeocene of this insectivorous bug, showing possible mimicry of a wasp model, confirms the presence of diverse entomofauna and of rather warm palaeoclimatic conditions.

Torsten Wappler [twappler@uni-bonn.de], Steinmann-Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Paläontologie, Universität Bonn, Nußallee 8, D-53115 Bonn, Germany; Romain Garrouste [garroust@mnhn.fr] and André Nel [anel@mnhn.fr], CNRS UMR 7205, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CP 50, Entomologie, 45 rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France; Michael S. Engel [msengel@ks.edu], Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, 1501 Crestline Drive – Suite 140, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66049–2811, USA.


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