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First fossil horsefly (Diptera: Tabanidae) in Miocene Mexican amber

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Abstract

The fossil record of the Tabanidae is sparse when compared with other families of Diptera. Even in amber they are rare, probably because of their size and specific flight behavior. Horseflies from amber are only known from Cretaceous age New Jersey amber as well as from the Tertiary age Baltic and Dominican amber, but are herein described for the first time, with Stenotabanus oleariorum sp. n., from Mexican amber. The new species is compared to the fossil horseflies of the same genus S. brodzinskyi Lane, Poinar and Fairchild 1988 and S. woodruffi Lane and Fairchild 1989 from Dominican amber.

Kurzfassung

Der Fossilbericht der Tabaniden ist, im Vergleich zu anderen Dipterenfamilien insgesamt noch sehr spärlich. Auch in Bernsteinvorkommen sind Tabaniden selten, vermutlich wegen ihrer Größe und ihrem speziellen Flugverhalten. Tabaniden in Bernstein sind bis jetzt nur aus dem kreidezeitlichen Bernstein von New Jersey sowie dem tertiären Baltischen und Dominikanischen Bernstein bekannt. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung wird die erste Tabanide aus dem Mexikanischen Bernstein, Stenotabanus oleariorum sp. n, beschrieben. Die neue Art wird mit den beiden bis heute einzigen bekannten fossilen Tabaniden der gleichen Gattungen (S. brodzinskyi Lane, Poinar and Fairchild 1988 und S. woodruffi Lane and Fairchild 1989) des Dominikanischen Bernsteins verglichen.

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Acknowledgments

This research was possible with a postdoctoral fellowship to M.M.S.K, no. SO894/3-1, from the German Research Foundation (DFG). The authors would like to thank Dr. Günter Bechly from the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart for the loan of the specimen. Special thanks are due to PD Dr. Torsten Wappler (Bonn) for valuable comments and helpful discussion and Prof. Dr. McCann (Bonn) for reading and correcting the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Steinmann-Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Paläontologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115, Bonn, Germany

    Jonina Strelow, Mónica M. Solórzano Kraemer & Jes Rust

  2. Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Mónica M. Solórzano Kraemer

  3. Instituto de Ecología, A.C, Antigua Carretera a Coatepec No. 351, El Haya, Xalapa, 91070, Veracruz, Mexico

    Sergio Ibáñez-Bernal

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  1. Jonina Strelow
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  3. Sergio Ibáñez-Bernal
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Correspondence to Jonina Strelow.

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Strelow, J., Solórzano Kraemer, M.M., Ibáñez-Bernal, S. et al. First fossil horsefly (Diptera: Tabanidae) in Miocene Mexican amber. Paläontol Z 87, 437–444 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-013-0171-7

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