A new sawfly from the Paleocene of Menat (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae)

Abstract

The new tenthredinid Palaeocaiina menatensis gen. et sp. nov. is described and illustrated from the Paleocene of Menat (Puy-de-Dôme, France). Although its preservation complicates the observation of several key characters useful to distinguish between tenthredinid subfamilies, we decided to place this new taxon within the tribe Allantini of the subfamily Allantinae. Its venation of fore-and hind wings combined with the shape of its ovipositor sheaths leads us assume that Palaeocaiina gen. nov. is possibly related to the extant genus Caiina Wei, 2004 distributed in the east Palearctic. Interestingly, this new genus is the oldest known fossil of the subfamily Allantinae.