The first Epyrine (Hymenoptera, Bethylidae) from the middle Miocene amber of Zhangpu

Bethylidae are a taxonomically diverse family of parasitoid hymenopterans that are common components of Cretaceous and Eocene fossil insect assemblages. In contrast, the Miocene fossil record of this family remains sparse, with only a few species described from Dominican and Mexican ambers. Here, I describe Chlorepyris norahae sp. nov., the third Miocene representative of the Epyrinae, and the first from the middle Miocene Zhangpu amber of southeastern China. Chlorepyris Kieffer, Citation1913 is one of the largest epyrine genera, comprising nearly 80 extant species distributed worldwide, together with numerous fossil representatives from Cretaceous and Eocene deposits. The discovery of Chlorepyris norahae sp. nov. extends the fossil record of this lineage through the Miocene. This occurrence is also consistent with the reconstructed megathermal rainforest environment of Zhangpu, which closely resembles the modern tropical forests of Thailand and the Philippines where extant Chlorepyris are found today. Chlorepyris norahae sp. nov. further highlights the importance of Zhangpu amber for documenting the Neogene evolutionary history of Bethylidae in Southeast Asia.Manuel Brazidec [[email protected]], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China.