Eopachylosticta Malaise, 1945

Archibald, S. Bruce & Rasnitsyn, Alexandr P., 2023, Cimbicidae (Hymenoptera, ‘ Symphyta’) in the Paleogene: revision, the new subfamily Cenocimbicinae, and new taxa from the Eocene Okanagan Highlands, Zootaxa 5278 (1), pp. 1-38 : 24-25

Genus Eopachylosticta Malaise, 1945

Eopachylosticta Malaise, 1945, p. 14 .

Type species. Amasis byrami Cockerell, 1925 .

Emended diagnosis. Because of lack of sufficiently preserved wings and incompletely preserved body, the type and only fossil lacks many characters reliably used as diagnostic in Cimbicidae . However, generic distinction in Pachylostictinae is currently based in part on colour pattern ( Vilhelmsen et al. 2019) which is available here, allowing at least a tentative genus diagnosis until better preserved fossils are found. The genus is distinct from others of Pachylostictinae by its dark head and thorax in contrast to its distinctly paler (somewhat infuscate) abdomen.

Remarks. Eopachylosticta belongs to the Pachylostictinae by a combination of its antennae with five segments and the median longitudinal mesonotal sulcus and notauli present and well developed ( Vilhelmsen 2019).

Preservation of the type specimen of Eopachylosticta byrami suffers from the aggressive hydrochemistry of the Green River depositional environment. This is a common problem for fossil insects in parts of this formation, where the wings, legs and other body parts which were pale in life may become extremely faint or invisible as fossils. Therefore, our description and interpretation of this fossil is limited to distinguishing the genus from others of Pachylostictinae , setting aside more detailed analysis until better preserved material is available.

Species included. Type species only.