Proterosceliopsis

Proterosceliopsis is an extinct genus of platygastroid parasitic wasp, known from the Mid-Cretaceous of Eurasia. The genus was first described in 2014 from the Albian amber of the Escucha Formation.[1] In 2019 additional species were described from the Cenomanian-age Burmese amber, and was placed into the monotypic family Proterosceliopsidae.[2]

Proterosceliopsis Temporal range: Albian–Cenomanian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Proterosceliopsis ambulata in multiple views
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Superfamily:	Platygastroidea
Family:	†Proterosceliopsidae Talamas et al, 2019
Genus:	†Proterosceliopsis Ortega-Blanco, McKellar and Engel, 2014
Type species
†Proterosceliopsis masneri Ortega-Blanco, McKellar and Engel, 2014
Other species
See text

Taxonomy

In the initial 2014 description, the genus was placed in the Scelionidae.[1] However, traditional Scelionidae was found to be polyphyletic in a 2007 study,[3] which recovered a "main scelionid clade" as monophyletic. In the 2019 study describing the Burmese amber species, it was found to exhibit a unique combination of characters placing it outside both the modified Scelionidae and Platygastridae, thus causing it to be placed in a new family within Platygastroidea.[2]

Species

• Proterosceliopsis ambulata Talamas et al. 2019 Burmese amber
• Proterosceliopsis masneri Ortega-Blanco et al. 2014 Alava Amber
• Proterosceliopsis nigon Talamas et al. 2019 Burmese amber
• Proterosceliopsis plurima Talamas et al. 2019 Burmese amber
• Proterosceliopsis torquata Talamas et al. 2019 Burmese amber
• Proterosceliopsis wingerathi Talamas et al. 2019 Burmese amber

Species of Proterosceliopsis

• 
  Proterosceliopsis plurima
• 
  Proterosceliopsis plurima
• 
  Proterosceliopsis plurima
• 
  Proterosceliopsis torquata
• 
  Proterosceliopsis torquata
• 
  Proterosceliopsis wingerathi
• 
  Proterosceliopsis nigon
• 
  Proterosceliopsis nigon

References

1. Ortega-Blanco, J.; McKellar, R.C.; Engel, M.S. (2014-06-09). "Diverse scelionid wasps in Early Cretaceous amber from Spain (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea)". Bulletin of Geosciences: 553–571. doi:10.3140/bull.geosci.1463. ISSN 1802-8225.
2. Talamas, Elijah J.; Johnson, Norman F.; Shih, Chungkun; Ren, Dong (2019-11-18). "Proterosceliopsidae: A new family of Platygastroidea from Cretaceous amber". Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 73: 3–38. doi:10.3897/jhr.73.32256. ISSN 1314-2607.
3. Murphy, Nicholas P.; Carey, Danielle; Castro, Lyda R.; Dowton, Mark; Austin, Andrew D. (2007-08-06). "Phylogeny of the platygastroid wasps (Hymenoptera) based on sequences from the 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA and cytochrome oxidase I genes: implications for the evolution of the ovipositor system and host relationships: PHYLOGENY OF THE PLATYGASTROID WASPS". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 91 (4): 653–669. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00825.x.