The second species of Acartophthalmites from Baltic amber (Eocene), with notes on the relationships of the genus (Diptera: Acalyptrata)
Roháček Jindřich
Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56(1): 409-422, 2016
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Abstract: Hitherto, the Paleogene fossil genus Acartophthalmites Hennig, 1965 included
only the type species, A. tertiaria Hennig, 1965, from Baltic amber (Eocene, ca.
40 Mya). An additional species, Acartophthalmites clusioides sp. nov., is
described based on a well preserved male in a Baltic amber inclusion from
Kaliningrad: Yantarny (Russia). It distinctly differs from A. tertiaria in a
number of characters demonstrating that the genus Acartophthalmites is
morphologically more diverse than considered previously. Moreover, the study of
A. clusioides resulted in finding that Acartophthalmites is obviously not
related to Acartophthalmidae (where it was originally affiliated), but seems to
be closer to Clusiidae, although surely not belonging to the latter family as
currently delimited. Therefore a revision of all available specimens of
Acartophthalmites is suggested to gain a more complete set of morphological data
of this genus, enabling analysis of its phylogenetic relationships.
Key words: Diptera, taxonomy, Acartophthalmites, A. clusioides sp. nov., Baltic amber, Eocene, relationships