Archocyrtus

Archocyrtus is an extinct genus of small-headed flies in the family Acroceridae. The genus is known from compression fossils from the Late Jurassic Karabastau Formation of Kazakhstan.[1] The genus is the only member of the subfamily Archocyrtinae.[3]

Archocyrtus
Temporal range: Callovian
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Acroceridae
Subfamily: †Archocyrtinae
Ussatchev, 1968
Genus: †Archocyrtus
Ussatchev, 1968
Type species
†Archocyrtus gibbosus
Ussatchev, 1968
Species
  • †A. gibbosus
  • †A. kovalevi
Synonyms[1]

Juracyrtus Nartshuk, 1996[2]

A study on the holotype specimen of Archocyrtus kovalevi was published by Khramov & Lukashevich (2019). They reported evidence of an extremely long proboscis, almost twice the length of the body of the insect. They suggested that it was probably a pollinator of extinct seed plants belonging to the order Bennettitales.[4]

Species

Two species belong to the genus Archocyrtus:

  • †A. gibbosus Ussatchev, 1968
  • †A. kovalevi (Nartshuk, 1996)[2][1]

References
  1. Gillung, Jessica P.; Winterton, Shaun L. (2017). "A review of fossil spider flies (Diptera: Acroceridae) with descriptions of new genera and species from Baltic Amber". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 16 (4): 325–350. doi:10.1080/14772019.2017.1289566.
  2. Nartshuk, E. P. (1995). "A new fossil acrocerid fly from the Jurassic beds of Kazakhstan (Diptera: Acroceridae)". Zoosystematica Rossica. 4 (2): 313–315.
  3. Gillung, Jessica P.; Winterton, Shawn L. (2019). "Evolution of fossil and living spider flies based on morphological and molecular data (Diptera, Acroceridae)". Systematic Entomology. 44 (4): 820–841. doi:10.1111/syen.12358.
  4. Khramov, Alexander V.; Lukashevich, Elena D. (2019). "A Jurassic dipteran pollinator with an extremely long proboscis". Gondwana Research. 71: 210–215. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2019.02.004.
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