Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 48B(1-2) 2005

Issue:

VOL 48B(1-2) 2005

Keywords:

Paleontology, paleobiology, Baltic amber, Polyphaga, Tertiary, Lutetian, Anthophila, Tenebrionoidea

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An Eocene ectoparasite of bees: The oldest definitive record of phoretic meloid triungulins (Coleoptera: Meloidae; Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)

• Michael S. ENGEL

Abstract:

The first definitve fossils of phoretic meloid triungulins are reported in middle Eocene (Lutetian) Baltic amber. Nine minute specimens of a meloid triungulin (perhaps Nemognathinae) were preserved with their host bee, a female of Protolithurgus ditomeus ENGEL (Anthophila: Megachilidae: Lithurginae: Protolithurgini). Although a single, putative triungulin was previously reported in Baltic amber, that specimen was found in isolation of a host and its identity was questionable. These Eocene meloid triungulins are the oldest, definitive direct observation of the specialized host-parasite relationship between meloids and bees.