Mesosciophila eucalla Zhang 2007

Taxonomy

Gnat

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda Latreille 1829
Class: Insecta Linnaeus 1758
Order: Diptera Linnaeus 1758
Family: Mesosciophilidae Rohdendorf 1946
Genus: Mesosciophila
Species: Mesosciophila eucalla
Author Citation Zhang 2007

Geological Time Scale

Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Mesozoic
Period: Jurassic
Sub Period: None
Epoch: Middle
International Age: Callovian to Oxfordian

Stratigraphy

Jiulongshan Formation
Daohugou Bed

Provenance

Acquired by: Purchase/Trade

Location

Daohugou (Village)
Ningcheng (County)
Inner Mongolia (Province)
China

• daohugou
• diptera
• inner mongolia
• jurassic
• mesosciophila

Comments

Taxonomy from Fossilworks.org.
Emended diagnosis for the genus from Zhang 2007, p. 298: "Medium-sized mesosciophilid gnats. Male body (including legs) covered with long, dense pubescence. Eyes large. Maxillary palps five-segmented, longer than head length. Antennae filiform, 16-segmented, with scapes and pedicels quadrate, flagellomeres cylindrical. Mesonotum convex. Scutellum clearly projecting. Venationally, Sc₁ ending distad to level of Rs origin, Sc₂ situated clearly basad to Rs origin; bRs longer than r-m; R₁ slightly curved; both R₁ and R₄₊₅ divergent terminally; Rs furcated distad to fork of M₁₊₂; R₂₊₃ oblique; cell r moderately large, one-quarter to one-fifth of length of wing; stem of M not developed. Halteres light, with pubescence not visible. Femora, tibiae and first two tarsomeres with one or two rows of short setae."

Line drawings from Zhang 2007, p. 300 (scale bars represent 1mm):

        

A: Male Gnat       C: Wing

References:
Junfeng Zhang (2007). New mesosciophilid gnats (Insecta: Diptera: Mesosciophilidae) in the Daohugou biota of Inner Mongolia, China,

Cretaceous Research, Volume 28, Issue 2, Pages 297-301, ISSN 0195-6671, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2006.05.007.