Two wasp families rare in the fossil record (Hymenoptera) : Perilampidae and Megaspilidae from the Miocene of Spain ; American Museum novitates, no. 3540

Abstract

Three new species of parasitoid wasp are described and figured from early Miocene (early Burdigalian) compression fossils from Rubielos de Mora Basin, Spain. These wasps are significant as they are representative of two families exceedingly rare in the fossil record. The first is a species of the family Perilampidae (Chalcidoidea) and, aside from an old and unconfirmed record of an undescribed Perilampus in Baltic amber, is the only documented fossil of this lineage. Perilampus renzii, new species, is described from a single female. The remaining two species are both of the family Megaspilidae (Ceraphronoidea), which is otherwise known in the fossil record solely from a paucity of species preserved in fossil resins. Conostigmus lazaros, new species, and C. chthonios, new species, are distinguished from each other as well as modern congeners.