Megacoxa gungner Vilhelmsen, Wu, Wang, Gao & Ren, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Vilhelmsen, Lars
name: Wu, Qiong
name: Wang, Zhen
name: Gao, Tai-Ping
name: Ren, Dong
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Malacostraca
Amphipoda
Australomicroprotopidae
Megacoxa
Megacoxa gungner

description: † Megacoxa gungner sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 15AEDADB-4F15-4903-A7C3-A633A786FEF0
Fig. 3
Diagnosis
Compact body, metasoma of approx. same length as mesosoma (Fig. 3A–B). Antennae shorter than head + mesosoma. Median mesoscutal sulcus smooth, axillae contiguous. Hind coxa without carina and foveae along posterior margin (coxa carinate and foveate in † M. chandrahrasa). Hind femur and tibia swollen, tibial apical spurs very short, less than half max. tibial width (spurs longer than tibial width in † M. chandrahrasa), hind basitarsomere slightly shorter than remaining tarsomeres combined (much longer in † M. chandrahrasa). Ovipositor elongate, longer than body (Fig. 3A; ovipositor shorter than body in † M. chandrahrasa).
Etymology
The species epithet is after Gungner, the never-missing spear of Odin, king of the Norse gods. It refers to the long ovipositor of this species.
Type material
Holotype
MYANMAR • ♀; Kachin State, Myitkyina District, Hukawng Valley; [26°20′ N, 96°36′ E]; unnamed horizon, mid-Cretaceous, upper Albian to lower Cenomanian, 98.79± 0.62 Ma (Cruickshank & Ko 2003; Shi et al. 2012); CNU-HYM-MA-2016211.
Description
Female
BODY. Length (except ovipositor) 5.1 mm, fore wing length 3.2 mm, ovipositor length 6.9 mm. Specimen complete, generally well preserved in clear piece of amber with moderate amount of grit, no major occlusions around specimen but several diffraction planes, particularly in lower part of specimen; lower part of head obscured by frothy mass of bubbles with hair-like extensions. Small to minute air bubbles on surface of parts of specimen, especially around antennae, making observations difficult. Syninclusion: remains of spider exuvium.
HEAD (Fig. 3B). Held closely appressed to mesosoma, globular, without prominent sculpture or setation, eyes oval; ocelli situated on anterodorsal part of head in approx. equilateral triangle; postocular carina absent; occipital carina well developed, finely crenulate, slightly incurved dorsally; antennae shorter than head and mesosoma combined, basal antennomeres difficult to observe, distal antennomeres not much longer than wide except apical antennomere, approx. twice as long as wide and tapering; mouthparts difficult to observe, short palps observed.
MESOSOMA. With propectus concealed; pronotum narrow medially, triangular laterally, with anterior thoracic spiracle in notch in upper lateral margin; fore femur spindle-shaped, thickened, fore tibia slender, slightly widening distally, calcar not observed; mesoscutum strongly arched in lateral view, vertical anterior surface curves smoothly into horizontal surface; horizontal surface flat, level with mesoscutellum, not prominently sculptured, with short, evenly spaced hairs; median mesoscutal sulcus distinct (Fig. 3B), apparently smooth, extends to transscutal articulation; axillae narrow, continuous medially, separated from mesoscutellum by angled foveate scutoscutellar sulcus; mesoscutellum flat, smooth with small hairs, rounded posteriorly; mesopleuron smooth with small, evenly spaced hairs, with slight depression in middle, mesopleuro-metapleural sulcus straight, distinct, crenulate; mid femur thickened, spindle-shaped, mid tibia slender, slightly expanded distally, with two short apical spurs of approx. same length as distal tibial width; hind coxa broad basally, cone-shaped, without carina or foveae along posterior margin; hind femur very thickened, broadened in middle (Fig. 3B); hind tibia very thickened, expanded distally, with dense mat of setae on inner side, two minute apical spurs of subequal length present, spur length less than half distal tibial width; hind basitarsus with short erect pegs on inner side, slightly shorter than remaining tarsomeres, tarsal claws simple, slender.
WINGS. Fore wing (Fig. 3C) hyaline with veins C, R1, Sc+R, M+Cu, A, Rs+M, Rs, M and Cu fully pigmented; Rs+M aligned with M+Cu; medial cell wide distally, rectangular; Rs present between Rs+M and r-rs, closing first submarginal cell; marginal cell narrow, closed in straight line by Rs; hind wings covered by fore wings.
METASOMA (Fig. 3B). 1.09 × as long as mesosoma, compact, turnip-shaped, hardly separated from mesosoma, without prominent sculpture but with short, evenly spaced hairs; metasomal segment 2 largest, metasoma widest there; sternum 7 tapered apically, folded over medially along longitudinal axis; ovipositor (Fig. 3A) extending posteriorly, elongate, length 1.35 × body length; ovipositor proper and sheaths slender, teeth on tip of 2 nd valvula not observed.
Male
Unknown.
Remarks
† Megacoxa gungner sp. nov. mostly resembles † M. chandrahrasa among the other species in the genus, but differs from the latter in having the hind coxa without prominent carina or foveae, the apical hind tibial spurs and hind barsitarsus shorter, and the ovipositor longer.
description: Published as part of Vilhelmsen, Lars, Wu, Qiong, Wang, Zhen, Gao, Tai-Ping & Ren, Dong, 2025, Three new species of the long-tailed wasp genus † Megacoxa Brazidec et al., 2024 (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae) from Kachin amber, pp. 238-254 in European Journal of Taxonomy 976 (1) on pages 244-246, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2025.976.2793, http://zenodo.org/record/14981651