Proironia, Grimaldi, 2018

Grimaldi, David A., 2018, Basal Cyclorrhapha In Amber From The Cretaceous And Tertiary (Insecta: Diptera), And Their Relationships: Brachycera In Cretaceous Amber Part Ix David A. Grimaldi, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2018 (423), pp. 1-97 : 1-97

Proironia , new genus

DIAGNOSIS: Eyes virtually touching dorsally in male; antennal pedicel with fingerlike lobes extended into basal flagellomere on mesal and lateral surface; wing with membrane entirely glassy (no microtrichia); veins M 1 and M 2 with short to long stem (not connected directly to cell d); anal lobe of wing shallow; acrostichals numerous and scattered, not in rows.

TYPE SPECIES: P. gibbera , new species.

ETYMOLOGY: Pro - (first), and - ironia (from Ironomyia ), in reference to the stem-group position of this extinct genus relative to Ironomyia . The genus name is feminine.

COMMENTS: The new genus is a stem group; it does not appear to have any features that are apomorphic with respect to Ironomyia and Cretonomyia (fig. 37). It seems preferable to have a separate genus for these two species, rather than expand the definition of the extant genus Ironomyia , which is quite apomorphic. Also, despite the list of differences between the two species, given in the diagnosis immediately below, they are actually quite similar. The most significant differences appear to be the orientation of crossvein dm-cu and length of M 1 -M 2 stem.