Archaeocercoides puchkovi Simutnik, sp. nov.

Type species only.

The new genus resembles the extinct genus Archaeocercus Simutnik, 2018 by its extremely apical position of the cerci (Fig. 3B–D, and figs 5, 6 in Simutnik and Perkovsky 2018a). The genus name is a masculine noun.

Habitus not ‘encyrtiform’, body not compact, slightly elongated and flattened; minimum distance between eyes almost 0.5× head width; frontovertex broader than long, ocelli in strongly obtuse triangle, posterior ocelli elliptical in dorsal view; all 6 funicular segments transverse, first funicular segment ring-like; clava only slightly shorter than funicle, about 2.2× as long as broad; mesoscutum and scutellum flat, notaular lines absent; scutellum as long as broad, flat, and as long as mesoscutum; marginal vein more than three times as long as broad, shorter than postmarginal one; covering setae (sensu Sharkov 1985) along basal margin of linea calva present, poorly-developed, but much longer than in Archaeocercus (Fig. 3A: cs and fig. 6 in Simutnik and Perkovsky 2018a); filum spinosum absent; parastigma not widened, only slightly wider than previous part of submarginal vein; strigil poorly developed; cerci located extremely close to gastral apex (Fig. 3B–D); apex of hypopygium reaching way past apex of gaster (Fig. 3B–D), lateral margins of hypopygium with row of short setae (Fig. 3C); ovipositor sheaths very small (supposedly, their rudiments are visible in Fig. 3C, D: v3?); protruding part of ovipositor stylet upwardly bent, approximately as long as mesotarsus (Fig. 3B–D). However, the ovipositor, partly, is in the “laying or ovipositing position”. Therefore, when it was not in the ovipositing position, it would be mostly retracted and enclosed within the hypopygium and not really truly exserted. The hypopygium may also slightly not reach to the apex of the gaster.

The new genus is very similar to Archaeocercus Simutnik, 2018, but differs by the OOL being equal to the posterior ocellar diameter, the posterior ocelli are relatively larger and elliptical in dorsal view; the clava is more narrow and elongated; the parastigma is not expanded (Archaeocercus with distinct parastigma, see figs 1, 2, 6 in Simutnik and Perkovsky 2018a); notauli are absent; the scutellum is longer, as broad as long, not shorter than the mesoscutum; the inner angles of the axillae are wider; the covering setae along linea calva are short but distinctly present; and by its long ovipositor stylet (in the “ovipositing position”)(see figs 1–6 in Simutnik and Perkovsky 2018a). Trjapitzion Simutnik, 2018 clearly differs from the new genus in a high interantennal prominence, strongly expanded parastigma, strongly widened scape and mandible, and in very short legs, especially tarsi (figs 2, 3, 6 in Simutnik and Perkovsky 2018b).

Holotype , SIZK, no. UA-28099, 1♀, Varash District, Rovno Region, Ukraine; Rovno amber; late Eocene. The inclusion is in a yellow and clear piece of amber in a shape of parallelepiped (ca. 40 × 10 × 9 mm), one side of which contains a layer of organic residues. All body parts are preserved.

Crawler of Coccoidea (Fig. 1C, D).

The species is named in memory of our colleague coleopterist Prof. Aleksandr Vasilievich Puchkov.

Female. Habitus as in Figs 1B, 2C. Body not compact, slightly elongated and flattened. Body length 1.2 mm.

Coloration. Body, antenna, tegula, gaster dorsally and ventrally black; surface of frontovertex, mesoscutum, scutellum and axillae smooth, shiny, but without metallic shine, monotonously shallow reticulate with sparse punctures, evenly clothed in short setae (Figs 1B, 2A); coxae, and legs black, meso- and metatibia with lighter apices; protarsus dark; mesotibial spur, meso- and metatarsus light brown to yellowish.

Head. Hypognathous, slightly wider than thorax (8:7) in dorsal view, twice as broad as long, with rounded occipital margin; eyes bare, with inner orbits parallel; minimum distance between eyes almost 0.5× head width; OOL about equal to posterior ocellar diameter (Fig. 2A); OCL about equal to half of posterior ocellar diameter; OOL:POL:LOL:OCL about 1:9:5.5:1.5; eye reaching occipital margin; facial cavity and interantennal prominence present but without distinct antennal scrobes (Fig. 2A); toruli located above of mouth margin, about at level of lower margin of eyes (Fig. 2B); malar sulcus complete; mandibles, probably two-toothed, with powerful teeth (Fig. 2B).

Figure 2. 

A. puchkovi, gen. et sp.nov., holotype female A head, mesoscutum, dorsal B head, anterior part of the mesosoma, ventral (ot – oblique truncation) C body, ventrolateral (ac – acropleuron, pre – prepectus, str – subtegular region, v1 + v2 – ovipositor stylet) D subtegular region, ventrolateral. Scale bars: 0.2 mm (A, B); 0.5 mm (C).

Antenna. Geniculate, 11-segmented (1:1:6:3); radicle short, about 2–2.5× as long as broad; scape wide, flattened (Fig. 2A); pedicel conical, slightly shorter than F1–F4 combined, longer than any segment of funicle; funicle cylindrical, all segments broader than long, width of flagellomeres increases toward apex; F4–F6 and all segments of clava with mps (Fig. 2A, B); clava large, only slightly shorter than funicle, about 2.2× as long as broad, with small oblique truncation on non-acute apical segment (Fig. 2B: ot), slightly wider than F6; flagellum and clava clothed in short setae.

Mesosoma. Pronotum short, almost vertical, in dorsal view without transverse dorsal surface (Fig. 2A); mesoscutum broader than long, flat; axillae transverse-triangular with anteromedial angles contiguous (Fig. 2A); prepectus large, bare, polygonally reticulate, posterior margin extended to base of tegula; acropleuron convex, bare, with shallow longitudinal reticulate sculpture, long, in lateral view twice as long as height (Fig. 2C: ac), with distinct acropleural sulcus; subtegular region (Fig. 2D: str) of acropleuron large, convex, delineated by distinct sulcus; metapleuron narrow, without visible setation (Fig. 2C).

Wings. Fully developed. Fore wing with basal cell uniformly setose; costal cell narrow; submarginal vein without distinct extension (Fig. 3A), although, when lighting from above, parastigma appears to be somewhat swollen (Fig. 1B: pst); hyaline break (unpigmented area) present; marginal vein long, but slightly shorter than stigmal and postmarginal veins (Fig. 1B, left wing); proportions of forewing venation as in Figs 1B, 2C, 3A; stigmal vein with long narrow uncus, consisting row of uncal sensillae (Fig. 3A: unc); enlarged seta marking apex of postmarginal vein of fore wing rather absent (Fig. 3A); setae of marginal fringe short.

Figure 3. 

A. puchkovi, gen. et sp. nov., holotype female A wings (cs – covering setae, lc– linea calva, unc – uncus) B body, lateral (v1 + v2 – ovipositor stylet) C apex of gaster, lateral (c – cercus, hyp– hypopygium, v3? – supposedly, ovipositor sheath) D apex of gaster, posterolateral. Scale bars: 0.2 mm (A, C, D); 0.5 mm (B).

Legs. Normal in size, alike polygonally reticulate; protibia with long, curved calcar; basitarsal comb poorly developed; tarsi 5-segmented; mesotibial spur slightly shorter than mesobasitarsus; metatibia with two spurs.

Gaster. As long as mesosoma, polygonal reticulate equal dorsally and ventrally, apical margins of metasomal terga straight, parallel; paratergites and cercal setae not visible; ovipositor stylet combined from 1^st and 2^nd valvulae (stylet suture presumably visible in Fig. 3C); hypopygium in Fig. 3B–D: hyp.

Male. Unknown.

Rovnopositor voblenkoi Simutnik, sp. nov.

Type species only.

The name of the genus is a combination of the words “Rovno” and “ovipositor”. The new genus is distinguished by an unusual ovipositor structure. Gender masculine.

Habitus not ‘encyrtiform’, body not compact, not flattened; ocelli in almost right angled triangle (Fig. 5B), posterior ocelli elliptical in dorsal view; frontovertex about as long as broad; flagellum long, first funicular segment 1.5× as long as broad, funicle without transverse segments; clava slightly longer than F4–F6 combined, 2.5× as long as broad; mesoscutum and scutellum convex, notauli absent; scutellum as broad as long, and as long as mesoscutum; marginal vein relatively short, twice as long as broad, and one-third as long as postmarginal vein; setae along basal margin of linea calva short; filum spinosum absent; parastigma almost not widened; strigil present, well-developed; cerci slightly advanced toward gastral base, with long cercal setae (Fig. 5D: cers); apex of hypopygium reaching way past apex of gaster (in ovipositing position, Fig. 5A,D: hyp), lateral margins of hypopygium bare, without row of setae; protruding part of ovipositor stylet stout, upwardly bent (in ovipositing position); ovipositor sheaths strongly reduced, not visible in lateral view.

The new genus differs from Archaeocercoides in the right angled ocellar angle; the frontovertex is about as long as broad; its long flagellum, the first funicular segment being longer than broad, the funicle without transverse segments; the clava slightly longer than F4–F6 combined, 2.5× as long as broad; the relatively short marginal vein, twice as long as broad and one-third length of postmarginal vein; the convex mesoscutum and scutellum; the well-developed strigil; the cerci are noticeably advanced toward the gastral base; the lateral margins of hypopygium are bare; and in its stouter and longer protruding part of the ovipositor stylet (in ovipositing position).

Holotype , SIZK, no. K-9948, 1 ♀, Klesov, Sarny District, Rovno Region, Ukraine; Rovno amber; late Eocene. The inclusion is in a reddish and not very transparent piece of amber in a shape of irregular triangular prism (ca. 10 × 10 × 15 × 7 mm) (Fig. 4B). All body parts are preserved.

SIZK, no. K-9949, 2 Dolichopodidae, Aranei, stellate hairs.

The species is named in memory of our colleague Aleksandr Sergeevich Voblenko, an entomologist, zoologist, naturalist, and teacher.

Female. Habitus as in Fig. 4C. Body not compact, not flattened. Body length 1.25 mm.

Figure 4. 

Rovnopositor voblenkoi gen. et sp. nov., holotype female A head, antenna, lateral (m – mandible, r – radicle) B piece of amber with holotype (arrow) C body, dorsolateral (ac – acropleuron, c – cercus, f – marginal fringe, ot – oblique truncation, pl3 – metapleuron, pp – prepectus, sp – spiracle) D body, ventral. Scale bars: 0.1 mm (A); 1 mm (B); 0.2 mm (C, D).

Coloration. Body, antennae, gaster dorsally and ventrally dark, without metallic shine, monotonously shallow reticulate; pronotum, mesoscutum, and scutellum clothed in more long setae.

Head. Hypognathous, wider than its length, slightly wider than thorax, with rounded occipital margin (Fig. 5B); eyes bare, with inner orbits rather slightly divergent (Fig. 4D); OOL equal to posterior ocellar diameter; OCL about twice as long as posterior ocellar diameter; eye reaching occipital margin; interantennal projection small but visible in lateral view (Fig. 4A); toruli located at level of lower margin of eyes (Fig. 4A); malar sulcus complete; height of eye about twice larger than malar space; mandibles narrow, probably two-toothed (Figs 4A, C; 5A).

Antenna. 11-segmented (1:1:6:3); radicle short, twice as long as broad; scape long, about 5× as long as broad (Fig. 4A); pedicel conical, as long as F1 and F2 combined, longer than any segment of funicle; funicle not flattened, width of flagellomeres slightly increases toward apex; all segments of funicle and clava with mps (Fig. 4A); clava with small oblique truncation on rounded apical segment (Fig. 4A), slightly wider than F6; flagellum and clava clothed in short setae.

Mesosoma. Pronotum short, almost vertical, in dorsal view without transverse dorsal surface (Fig. 5B); mesoscutum about as broad as long; axillae transverse-triangular with anteromedial angles contiguous; prepectus large, bare, polygonally reticulate (Fig. 5B); acropleuron convex, bare, with shallow longitudinal reticulate sculpture, long; subtegular region of acropleuron large, convex, delineated by distinct sulcus; metapleuron and propodeum without visible setation (Fig. 4C).

Figure 5. 

R. voblenkoi, gen. et sp. nov., holotype female A body, lateral (hyp – hypopygium, st – strigil) B head, anterior part of the mesosoma, dorsolateral C forewing (f – marginal fringe, unc – uncus) D apex of gaster, lateral (cers – cercal setae). Scale bars: 0.2 mm (A–C); 0.1 mm (D).

Wings. Fully developed. Fore wing with costal cell narrow; submarginal vein without extension; hyaline break present; setation of linea calva in holotype poorly visible (Fig. 5C); marginal vein 0.5× as long as stigmal one; proportions of forewing venation as in Fig. 5C; stigmal vein with long narrow uncus, consisting row of uncal sensillae; postmarginal vein with row of long setae; setae of marginal fringe present (Fig. 5C).

Legs. Normal in size, alike polygonal reticulate; protibia with long, curved, bifurcate calcar; strigil well-developed but distinct basitarsal comb absent (Figs 4C, 5A: st); tarsi 5-segmented; mesotibial spur slightly shorter than mesobasitarsus; metatibia with two spurs.

Gaster . As long as mesosoma, polygonal reticulate equal dorsally and ventrally; protruding part of ovipositor stylet approximately as long as metatarsus (in ovipositing position); suture between 1^st and 2^nd valvulae clearly visible at base and at apex of stylet (Fig. 5D).

Male. Unknown.