Cascoplecia

Cascoplecia
Temporal range: Late Aptian to Early Cenomanian
holotype fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Infraorder: Bibionomorpha
Family: Cascopleciidae
Poinar Jr., 2010
Genus: Cascoplecia
Poinar Jr., 2010
Species: C. insolitis
Binomial name
Cascoplecia insolitis
Poinar Jr., 2010

Cascoplecia insolitis, commonly known as the unicorn fly,[1] is an extinct dipteran that lived in the Early Cretaceous. The type specimen was found in Burmese amber.[1] George Poinar, Jr., who described this fossil, coined a new family name for it – Cascopleciidae. One of the defining characteristics of Cascoplecia are three ocelli raised on an extended horn-like protuberance (hence its common name).

reconstruction

References

  1. 1 2 Poinar Jr., George (2010). "Cascoplecia insolitis (Diptera: Cascopleciidae), a new family, genus, and species of flower-visiting, unicorn fly (Bibionomorpha) in Early Cretaceous Burmese amber". Cretaceous Research 31 (1): 71–76. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2009.09.007.
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