Youngest occurrence of the genus Microphorites (Diptera: Dolichopodidae): A new species in Late Cretaceous Vendean amber

Abstract

A new species of the extinct genus Microphorites Hennig (Dolichopodidae: Microphorinae) is described from a single male preserved in Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Santonian) Vendean amber (NW France). Microphorites magaliae n. sp., is mostly characterized by large compound eyes, flagellomere I with base bulbous and abruptly tapering to slender apex, thorax strongly hump-backed, with numerous acrostichal and dorsocentral setae, including a pair of elongate posterior setae on the mesoscutum, mesoscutellum with two long strong setae, wing vein C terminating just beyond R4+5, and R4+5 approximately equidistant between R2+3 and M1 along wing margin. It is the latest occurrence of the genus which is otherwise known exclusively from Early to mid-Cretaceous amber of Lebanon, Spain, and southwestern France. The existing key to all species of Microphorites is modified to include the new species.