Sambia succinica, a crown group tenthredinid from Eocene Baltic amber (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae)

Abstract

Sambia succinica gen. et sp.n. from Eocene Baltic amber is described and illustrated. It is apparently the first amber fossil that can be definitively assigned to Tenthredininae. It displays two diagnostic forewing characters for this subfamily: having a bend distally in vein R and the junctions of veins M and Rs + M with vein R being some distance from each other. The variance and possible transitions between the anal vein configurations among the genera in Tenthredininae is briefly discussed.