Potrerilloxyela menendezi gen. et sp. nov., from the late triassic of argentina: the oldest representative of xyelidae (hymenoptera: symphyta) for americas

Abstract

Potrerilloxyela menendezi gen. et sp. nov. from the Potrerillos Formation, Cuyo Basin, early Upper Triassic, Mendoza Province, Argentina is described. It is included in the living family Xyelidae and tentatively placed in Liadoxyelini of Xyelinae, which is otherwise known only from the Jurassic of Asia. This record is the first for Hymenoptera in the Triassic of the New World and provides new evidence about the close faunal connections between Laurasia and Gondwana during Mesozoic times. The phylogenetic position of the new genus is discussed.