‘Rolling’ stoneflies (Insecta: Plecoptera) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

Abstract

This contribution describes seven new species of fossil stoneflies from Cretaceous Burmese amber, all of which are dedicated to present and past members of the Rolling Stones. Two species—Petroperla mickjaggeri gen. nov. sp. nov. and Lapisperla keithrichardsi gen. nov. sp. nov.—are placed in a new family Petroperlidae within the stemline of Systellognatha. The first Cretaceous larval specimen of Acroneuriinae, Electroneuria ronwoodi gen. nov. sp. nov., is also described along with another four new species that are placed within the Acroneuriinae genus Largusoperla Chen et al., 2018: Largusoperla charliewattsi sp. nov., Largusoperla brianjonesi sp. nov., Largusoperla micktaylori sp. nov., and Largusoperla billwymani sp. nov. Additional specimens of Acroneuriinae are described without formal assignment to new species due to insufficient preservation. Implications for stonefly phylogeny and palaeobiogeography are discussed.

A new stonefly species (Plecoptera: Perlodidae) from Eocene Baltic amber and questions on the wing venation potential for species diagnostic of fossil Plecoptera

“…Isoperla baltica sp. nov. has short first tarsomeres (apical tarsomeres about three times as long as first tarsomeres) (apomorphy of Systellognatha); a setose arolium (apomorphy of Systellognatha); forewing with numerous crossveins in costal field (plesiomorphy of Systellognatha), and rather stout and elongate labial palpi (plesiomorphy of Systellognatha) (Sroka et al, 2018). This combination of characters confirms our attribution to the Systellognatha.…”

“…This combination of characters confirms our attribution to the Systellognatha. Some representatives of this Arc-toperlaria infra-order also retain the plesiomorphic character state 'euplantulae present on tarsi' (Sroka et al, 2018), but we could not confirm the presence of this character on our specimen.…”

A new mid-Cretaceous fossil genus of stonefly (Plecoptera: Perlidae) from the Burmese amber

“…More precisely, a hammer on sternite 9 is an apomorphy of the Arctoperlaria (Zwick, 2000). The short first tarsomere, setose arolium, and small and weak mandibles are apomorphic J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f characters supporting the subclade Systellognatha (Sroka et al, 2018;Zwick, 2000). The current classification of Plecoptera supports the superfamilies Perloidea and Pteronarcyoidea within the Systellognatha.…”

A new fossil piddock (Bivalvia: Pholadidae) may indicate estuarine to freshwater environments near Cretaceous amber-producing forests in Myanmar

“…Conversely, the Kachin amber houses a diverse assemblage of freshwater taxa such as caddisflies [32][33][34][35] , mayflies [36][37][38][39] , stoneflies 40 , chironomids 41 , water measurers 42,43 , odonates [44][45][46][47][48] and their stem lineage 49 . It is known that insects rarely occur in marine and brackish environments 50 , although recent saltwater-tolerant or even marine species exist among several orders, e.g.…”