New Fossil Tingidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from the Mid-Cretaceous of Myanmar, with Remarks on the Phylogenetic Relationships within the Family

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The members of the Tingidae family are generally known as “lace bugs” because of the lacelike network of areoles adorning the pronotum and hemelytra. The family is distributed worldwide and the earliest fossils of lace bugs are from the Early Cretaceous period. A total of 16 species in eight tingids genera have been described from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese (Kachin) amber of northern Myanmar. But the placement of six Cretaceous genera is still uncertain. In this paper, we describe a new genus and species Latidorsum carinbifarium Wang, Tang & Yao gen. et sp. nov., and present remarks on the phylogenetic relationships of Tingidae based on morphological features from extinct and extant genera clarifying the phylogenetic status of six species. ABSTRACT: A new genus and species, Latidorsum carinbifarium Wang, Tang & Yao gen. et sp. nov., is assigned to Phatnomatini (Tinginae), which is described from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. A parsimonious analysis based on 50 morphological characters with 26 terminals clarifies the phylogenetic status of the new fossils and examined relationships among the presently analysed genera of the family Tingidae. The resulting cladogram supporting Tingidae are reconfirmed as monophyletic and divided into four main clades, with relationships as follows: (Vianaidinae + ((Burmacader multivenosus + Burmavianaida anomalocapitata) + (Sinaldocader rasnitsyni + (Gyaclavator kohlsi + Tinginae + Cantacaderinae)))). Anterior length of bucculae distinctly projecting in front of head, sometimes in contact is not a synapomorphic character for Cantacaderinae, which evolves in parallel in Tinginae and Cantacaderinae.