Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 35(3) 1993

Issue:

VOL 35(3) 1993

Keywords:

Diptera, Ceratopogonidae, fossils, Miocene, Saxonian amber

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Biting midges (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) from Miocene Saxonian amber

• Ryszard SZADZIEWSKI

Abstract:

The biting midges found in Saxonian amber, collected from coals near Bitterfeld, Germany, are described, keyed and interpreted. This Miocene amber (dated at 22million years), includes 37 species in 14 genera, with 22 of these are new: Culicoides subgedanensis, Brachypogon miocaenicus, Ceratopogon bitterfeldi, C. kotejai, C. m iocaenicus, C. subeminens, C. succinicolus, Chimaerohelea miocaenica, Eohelea fossicola, E. miocaenea, Fossihelea miocaenica, Stilobezzia kutscheri, S. saxonica, S. succinea, Palpomyia erikae, Forcipomyia subgedanensis, F. unculiformis, F. miocaenica, F. tuberculosa, F. bifidicola, F. succinicola, and Dasyhelea miocaenica. The fossil genus Meunierohelea SZADZIEWSKI from Europe is recognized as a junior synonym of the recent genus Chimaerohelea DEBENHAM known only from Australia. A neotype is designated for Ceratopogon alpheus HEYDEN, and two new synonyms are proposed for fossil species. A numerical analysis comparing Saxonian amber with older Baltic amber indicates evolutionary stasis for almost 33% of the species in Saxonian amber over a minimum of 15 million years. Overall, the relative percentages of ceratopogonid genera that make up the fauna have not changed significantly during this period.