A new hoverfly genus and species from the middle Eocene Baltic amber (Diptera: Syrphidae)
Résumé
Syrphid flies are an important clade of pollinators, and predators on several insect groups. The oldest record of its stem lineage is late Cretaceous, but this family really diversified during the Eocene-Oligocene, with a rather sparse fossil record. Here we describe from the Baltic amber the new genus and species Eoxanthandrus garroustei gen. et sp. nov., the first fossil representative of the Syrphinae ‘group’ Bacchini and Melanostomini. Its closest extant relatives prey on caterpillars, while the other Syrphinae generally prey on Hemiptera. This specialized biology possibly dates back to the middle Eocene.