A new biting midge of the genus Forcipomyia Meigen, 1818 from Miocene Ethiopian amber (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

• Published in: Palaeoentomology
• Main Authors: SZADZIEWSKI, RYSZARD, SONTAG, ELŻBIETA, PANKOWSKI, MADELINE V.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Magnolia press 2021
• Subjects: Diptera; Ceratopogonidae; Sakhalin
• Online Access: https://www.mapress.com/pe/article/view/palaeoentomology.4.5.9

Biting midges (Ceratopogonidae) are a relatively well-studied family of nematocerous flies distributed worldwide, including 6,206 extant and 296 fossil species. To date, 1,146 extant and 32 fossil species in the genus Forcipomyia have been recorded in the world (Borkent & Dominiak, 2020). Biting midges of the subgenus Forcipomyia s. str. are indicative of forests because their larvae and pupae usually live under the bark of rotting trees (Szadziewski, 2018). The oldest records of the genus are from the Eocene. Forcipomyia are reported from early Eocene Fushun amber (one species; Hong, 1981; Stebner et al., 2016; Szadziewski, 2018; Krzemiński et al., 2019), early Eocene Cambay amber (unnamed, Stebner et al., 2017), middle Eocene Sakhalin amber (one species, Szadziewski & Sontag, 2013), Eocene Baltic amber from the Gulf of Gdańsk, Rovno and Bitterfeld (21 species; Szadziewski, 1988, Szadziewski, 1993, Sontag & Szadziewski, 2011), Miocene Dominican amber (10 species, Szadziewski & Grogan, 1998) and Miocene Mexican amber (unnamed, Szadziewski & Grogan, 1996).