Articles | Volume 20, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-20-239-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-20-239-2017
Research article
 | 
25 Aug 2017
Research article |  | 25 Aug 2017

The wasp larva's last supper: 100 million years of evolutionary stasis in the larval development of rhopalosomatid wasps (Hymenoptera: Rhopalosomatidae)

Volker Lohrmann and Michael S. Engel

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Cited articles

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Bohart, R. M. and Menke, A. S.: Sphecid wasps of the world: a generic revision, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976.
Branstetter, M. G., Danforth, B. N., Pitts, J. P., Faircloth, B. C., Ward, P. S., Buffington, M. L., Gates, M. W., Kula, R. R., and Brady, S. G.: Phylogenomic analysis of ants, bees and stinging wasps: improved taxon sampling enhances understanding of Hymenopteran evolution, Curr. Biol., 27, 1019–1025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.03.027, 2016.
Brothers, D. J. and Carpenter, J. M.: Phylogeny of Aculeata: Chrysidoidea and Vespoidea, J. Hym. Res., 2, 227–304, 1993.
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Short summary
Amber functions as a window into the past, capable of capturing behaviors frozen for millions of years. Here, we report on the exceptionally rare discovery of a dinosaur-age larva of a stinging wasp, feeding on its cricket host, in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar. It reveals a considerable constancy in the biology of this particular family over the last 100 million years. The excellent preservation of the larva is remarkable and due solely to the fidelity permitted by inclusion in amber.
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