A Cretaceous crane-fly (Diptera: Tipulidae): 93 million years of stasis

Abstract

A new fossil species of crane-fly, Helius botswanensis:Diptera: Tipulidaey is described. The specimen was discovered recently in reliably dated, Cretaceous sediments from Botswana. It is extremely well preserved, has a distinctive morphology, and is identified as belonging to the extant genus Helius. The single specimen puts the origin of the subfamily Limoniinae and the genus well into the Cretaceous Period, and provides data on the southern African Cretaceous palaeoenvironment. The conservative nature of a dipteran of such antiquity, assignable to an extant genus which has an association with flowers, has implications for evolutionary theory.