Upper Triassic hemipterans from the south-western Gondwana: taxonomical, paleobiological, and paleogeographical implications

Abstract

Two new hemipteran taxa are described: Dysmorphoptiloides losrastrosensis sp. nov. and Gualoscarta obscura gen. et sp. nov. (Auchenorryncha: Dysmorphoptilidae). Likewise, we report the first specimen of a corixid (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha) from the Triassic of Gondwana. The fossil material studied in this paper comes from the Gualo locality, the Carnian Los Rastros Formation, Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin, La Rioja Province, Argentina. From new available material, we present a new forewing reconstruction of Saaloscytina carmonae Martins-Neto et al., 2006a and discuss its taxonomic position. As an additionally contribution, three genera from the Los Rastros Formation are revised: Gualoscytina Martins-Neto and Gallego, 2003, Argentinopheloscyta Martins-Neto and Gallego, 2003, and Australocicada Martins-Neto and Gallego, 2001 are synonymized to Apheloscyta Tillyard, 1922 (Apheloscyta mayae comb. nov.), Mesoscytina Tillyard, 1919 (Mesoscytina forsterae comb. nov.), and Fulgobole Shcherbakov, 2011 (Fulgobole arcucciae comb. nov.), respectively. Finally, the authors discuss the paleobiological and paleogeographical implications of this new material from the Triassic of Gondwana.