Eoplatypalpus Shamshev, 2025

Genus Eoplatypalpus Shamshev , gen. nov.

Type species. Eoplatypalpus sachalinensis sp. nov., by present designation. Middle Eocene amber of Sakhalin Island, Russia.

Etymology. Referring to the Eocene period, with a suffix used to refer to Cretaceous genera of the subfamily (an allusion to the genus Platypalpus ). The gender is masculine.

Diagnosis. Male eyes probably narrowly dichoptic, bare, ommatidia of equal size; face broader than frons; thorax somewhat elongated, with small postpronotal lobes, prosternum separated from proepisternum, scutellum with 6 setae; mid femur slender, with simple setae ventrally; wing long, narrow, of nearly equal width at basal and apical third, cells br and bm of approximately equal lengths and almost aligned apically, br narrow, bm nearly 2X as wide as br, cell cua absent (vein CuA absent but some free portion of vein CuA+CuP present as scarcely visible trace), anal lobe reduced.

Included species. Type species.

Comparison. Eoplatypalpus gen. nov. possesses bare eyes and somewhat elongated thorax with small postpronotal lobe that would suggest a comparison of this genus primarily with representatives of the tribe Tachydromiini , Symballophthalmus Becker and the Mesozoic genera. The new genus differs from all extant genera of Tachydromiini and from the Mesozoic Archiplatypalpus by the presence of six scutellar setae (versus 2–4 setae) ( Kovalev 1974, 1978; Grimaldi & Cumming 1999). On the other hand, Eoplatypalpus gen. nov. shares six scutellar setae with the Mesozoic Cretoplatypalpus (Taimyr amber, Russia) and with the extant Symballophthalmus ( Kovalev 1978). The new genus differs from Cretoplatypalpus and Symballophthalmus primarily by the wing lacking cell cua (anal cell). However, cell cua is absent in the Mesozoic Mesoplatypalpus (Cedar Lake, Canadian amber) ( Grimaldi & Cumming 1999). Eoplatypalpus gen. nov. differs from Mesoplatypalpus primarily by six scutellar setae (versus eight in Mesoplatypalpus ) and longer costal vein (ending at apex of vein M 1 versus ending just slightly past apex of vein R 4+ 5 in Mesoplatypalpus ) ( Grimaldi & Cumming 1999). Finally, it should be added that the extant genus Megagrapha Melander has a combination of a separated prosternum, 6–8 scutellar setae and the wing lacking cell cua. However, this genus is placed in the tribe Drapetidini , possessing ommatrichia on the eyes and the subquadrate thorax lacking postpronotal lobes ( Chillcott & Teskey 1983; Sinclair & Cumming 2006).