First fossil record of the mayfly family Vietnamellidae (Insecta, Ephemeroptera) from Burmese Amber confirms its Oriental origin and gives new insights into its evolution

Abstract

The small, monophyletic mayfly family Vietnamellidae Allen, 1984 has so far only been known from a few extant species of the genus Vietnamella Tshernova, 1972, which are all distributed in the Oriental Realm (Vietnam, Thailand, China, and India). Herein we report the first fossil record of Vietnamellidae based on a male and female imago from Mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. We establish the new genus Burmella gen. nov. to accommodate these two new Mesozoic specimens. Their attribution to Vietnamellidae is supported by the rounded shape of the hind wings with arched outer margin, the course of thoracic sutures, and characteristics of venation, especially of MP and Cu of the forewings and associated intercalary veins of the cubital field. At the same time, Burmella gen. nov. clearly differs from Vietnamella by a diminished number of longitudinal and cross veins in the hind wings, and by the different shape of male genitalia. This first fossil record of Vietnamellidae supports an age of at least 100 Ma for this taxon.