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A Cretaceous dance fly (Diptera: Empididae) from Botswana
Author(s) -
WATERS SASKIA B.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
systematic entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.552
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1365-3113
pISSN - 0307-6970
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3113.1989.tb00280.x
Subject(s) - cretaceous , biology , extant taxon , subfamily , dance , paleontology , zoology , ecology , evolutionary biology , visual arts , art , biochemistry , gene
The first fossil dance fly, Empis (s.s.) orapaensis sp.nov., of the subfamily Empidinae (Diptera: Empididae) is described from Africa. It was extracted from middle Cretaceous sediments of Orapa, Botswana. Empis orapaensis manifests a more plesiomorphous wing venational pattern then the extant species of Empis , and a list of the apomorphic and plesiomorphic characteristics is given. The specimen modifies earlier ideas on the phylogeny of the Empidoidea. The fossil also provides us with more conclusive evidence on the environment of Cretaceous southern Africa. E.orapanenis probably had a similar life‐style to extant members of the group and therefore visited flowers.