Baeomorpha Explained

Baeomorpha is an extinct genus of rotoitid parasitic wasp, known from the Late Cretaceous (~99-72 ma) of Laurasia. The type species, B. dubitata was named by Charles Thomas Brues for a specimen found in 72 million year old Canadian Amber.^[1] The vast majority of species are known from the Russian Taimyr amber, of upper Santonian age^[2] but two species (including type) are known from the upper Campanian Canadian amber, while one species is known from the lower Cenomanian Burmese amber.^[3]

Taxonomy

In the initial 1937 description, Brues placed the genus within the Scelionidae. Yoshimoto [<nowiki/>[[:de:Carl M. Yoshimoto|de]]] in 1975 placed it within Tetracampidae^[4] In 2017 during a comprehensive review of the genus, it was placed in Rotoitidae, an otherwise relict group only known from two extant genera in New Zealand and Chile. The study also placed two species described by Yoshimoto, B. distincta and B. elongata as synonyms of B. ovatata. In 2019 a new species B. liorum was described from the Burmese amber, significantly increasing the latitudinal and stratigraphic range of the taxon.

• Baeomorpha avamica Gumovsky, 2017 Taimyr amber
• Baeomorpha baikurensis Gumovsky, 2017 Taimyr amber
• Baeomorpha bianellus Gumovsky, 2017 Taimyr amber
• Baeomorpha caeleps Gumovsky, 2017 Taimyr amber
• Baeomorpha dubitata Brues, 1937 Canadian amber
• Baeomorpha gracilis Gumovsky, 2017 Taimyr amber
• Baeomorpha ingens Gumovsky, 2017 Taimyr amber
• Baeomorpha liorum Huber, Shih & Ren, 2019 Burmese amber
• Baeomorpha ovatata Yoshimoto, 1975 Canadian amber,
• Baeomorpha popovi Gumovsky, 2017 Taimyr amber
• Baeomorpha quattorduo Gumovsky, 2017 Taimyr amber
• Baeomorpha quattoruno Gumovsky, 2017 Taimyr amber
• Baeomorpha yantardakh Gumovsky, 2017 Taimyr amber
• Baeomorpha zherikhini Gumovsky, 2017 Taimyr amber

Notes and References

1. C. T. Brues. 1937. Superfamilies Ichneumonoidea, Serphoidea, and Chalcidoidea, in Insects and arachnids from Canadian amber. University of Toronto Studies in Geology 40:27-44
2. Gumovsky. Alex. Perkovsky. Evgeny. Rasnitsyn. Alexandr. April 2018. Laurasian ancestors and "Gondwanan" descendants of Rotoitidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea): What a review of Late Cretaceous Baeomorpha revealed. Cretaceous Research. en. 84. 286–322. 10.1016/j.cretres.2017.10.027.
3. Huber. John T.. Shih. Chungkun. Dong. Ren. 2019-10-31. A new species of Baeomorpha (Hymenoptera, Rotoitidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 72. 1–10. 10.3897/jhr.72.35502. 1314-2607. free.
4. C. M. Yoshimoto. 1975. Cretaceous chalcidoid fossils from Canadian Amber. The Canadian Entomologist 107:499-52