New species of Embolemidae (Hymenoptera: Chrysidoidea) from Cretaceous Burmese amber.

International audienceEmbolemidae (Hymenoptera: Chrysidoidea) are parasitoid wasps whose biology isparticularly unknown. These insects, present in the fossil record since the Lower Cretaceous,today have a cosmopolitan distribution. The current species are divided into 3 genera:Embolemus Westwood, 1833; Ampulicomorpha Ashmead, 1893 and Trogloembolemus Olmi etal., 2014. Three new species of Embolemus and two new species of Ampulicomorpha aredescribed from Cretaceous Burmese amber (ca. -99 Ma). The specimens of the genusEmbolemus constitute the first occurrence outside Europe and more particularly in Asia. Onefemale and five males of this genus were found within the same fragment, which wouldhypothetically be the first observation of a reproductive behaviour in Embolemidae.Ampulicomorpha females, considered as macropterous in the descriptions, can also bebrachypterous according to A sp. nov. 1, at least in the Upper Cretaceous. In addition,interspecific variability generally seems to be restricted to continuous traits such as antenna,scape or eye size. Intraspecific variability seems to be reduced or absent, which has notablybeen observed in the specimens of Embolemus ruddii Westwood 1833 preserved at the NationalMuseum of Natural History in Paris. Finally, it seems that Embolemus and Ampulicomorphaalready coexisted in the Cretaceous Myanmar's tropical forests