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Two new in amber preserved Zygentoma are described, namely Protolepisma tainicum gen. n. sp. n. (Lepismatidae) from the Dominican Republic of Hispaniola Island, and Paleograssiella chiapanicum gen. n. sp. n. (Nicoletiidae) from the Chiapas State of Mexico. Dated at approximately 20–30 MY old, they represent, respectively, the second fossil Lepismatidae known from the Dominican deposits and the first fossil Nicoletiidae (Atelurinae) and only fossil Zygentoma known from Mexico.

The female micro-wasp in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber is described as a new genus and species in the extinct family Caradiophyodidae fam. nov. (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea). Features of the specimen are its small body size (1.3 mm), no elbows, elongated, 15-segmented antennae, a deep cleft in the top of its head, a tarsal formula of 5-5-5, a reduced venation with a small pterostigma but no uncus in the forewing, no anal lobe in the hind wing, and a possible coiled ovipositor in the metasoma. Large unidentified expanded structures, considered to be possible seeds, plant secretions, or host eggs, are attached to each antenna.

The present work investigates the mining and sale of fossiliferous Burmese amber to determine if the profits are being used by the Myanmar military to commit atrocities against minority groups or ethnic armies within the country, as recently implied. Our conclusion, based on the information available to us, is that the great majority of Burmese amber fossils up to 2016 were taken across the border and sold in China. At this time, the amber mines were under the control of the Kachin Independent Army (KIA) or unregulated. After heavy fighting between the KIA and the Myanmar military from June 2017 to June - July 2018, the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley were occupied by the Myanmar government and presently, most of these mines are closed or are operated illegally or worked only intermittingly on a small scale. We have not been able to substantiate claims that millions of dollars from the sale of Burmese amber fossils were used by the Myanmar government to dominate minority groups within the country. At least up to 2017, there were no, or only insignificant funds, received by the Myanmar government from the mining and sale of Burmese amber. Thus we see no reason to halt the purchase of Burmese amber fossils or for editors and publishers to reject scientific papers describing these rare inclusions, which otherwise would be used for carvings or jewelry and become lost to science.

Ophiocordyceps dominicanus Poinar & Vega sp. nov. in Dominican amber and Polycephalomyces baltica Poinar & Vega sp. nov. (Hypocreales: Ophiocordycipitaceae) in Baltic amber are described as entomopathogenic fungi of bark lice (Psocoptera). The specimens possess several features unknown in extant synnematous entomopathogenic fungi such as a tubular dark synnema with a straight, pointed tip bearing spores over the entire surface in O. dominicanus, and a globular yellowish synnema developing on the tip of the host’s antenna in P. baltica. These are the only known fossil entomopathogenic fungi of bark lice, making them unique not only for their characters but also in respect to their selection of developmental sites on their bark lice hosts.

A new genus and species of froghopper, Araeoanasillus leptosomus gen. et sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea, Sinoalidae?), is described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. The new genus possesses the following diagnostic characteristics: slender, medium size body (length, 7.0 mm) with head longer than wide, round eyes; antennae slender with eight antennomeres; pedicel very short, shorter than scape; pronotum with a length/width ratio of 2.4; metatibia with three spines, including one short spine near base and two adjacent, long, thick spines near apex; a single series of 16 thick apical teeth (comb) at metatibial apex; tegmen narrow with a length/width ratio of 3.2; tegmen with coastal area and stigmal cell punctate; CuP meeting base of CuA2; and MP branching at middle of wing. In hind wing, Cu vein forked once. A series of plant trichomes adjacent and attached to the specimen suggests that the froghopper’s host plant was a fern.

Spider wasps had long been proposed to originate in the mid-Cretaceous based on the Burmese amber fossil Bryopompilus interfector Engel and Grimaldi, 2006. We performed a morphological examination of this fossil and determined it does not belong to Pompilidae or any other described hymenopteran family. Instead, we place it in the new family Bryopompilidae. The oldest verifiable member of the Pompilidae is from Baltic amber, which suggests the family probably originated in the Eocene, not in the mid-Cretaceous as previously proposed. The origin of spider wasps appears to be correlated with an increase in spider familial diversity in the Cenozoic. We also we add two genera to the extinct pompilid fauna: Tainopompilus gen. nov., and Paleogenia gen. nov., and describe three new species of fossil spider wasps: Anoplius planeta sp. nov., from Dominican amber (Burdigalian to Langhian); Paleogenia wahisi sp. nov., from Baltic amber (Lutetian to Priabonian); and Tainopompilus argentum sp. nov, from Dominican amber (Chattian to Langhian).

The present work reveals plant and animal associates of 16 families and subfamilies of fossil beetles that have been preserved in amber from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Myanmar. The associates include mites, pseudoscorpions, spiders, insect parasites and predators, fungi, angiosperm parts, vertebrates, and nematodes. The presence of these fossil associates can be attributed to the rapid preservation of organisms in resin, thus maintaining natural associations almost “in situ„. Examples of present-day associations similar to those of the fossils show that specific behavioral patterns are often far more ancient than the specific lineages involved.

Myanmymar aresconoides gen n., sp. n. is described from one female in Burmese amber, dated as about 100 my. It is similar to Arescon on wing features but is unique among Mymaridae indistinctly segmented palpi. It is the fifth mymarid genus definitely referable to the Cretaceous period. A key to Cretaceous mymarid genera is presented and the features of Myanmymar are compared with the other Cretaceous and extant mymarid genera.

Leptoconops nosopheris sp. n. (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) is described from a blood-filled female biting midge in Early Cretaceous Burmese amber. The new species is characterized by a very elongate terminal flagellomere, elongate cerci, and an indistinct spur on the metatibia. This biting midge contained digenetic trypanosomes (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) in its alimentary tract and salivary glands. These trypanosomes are described as Paleotrypanosoma burmanicus gen. n., sp. n., which represents the first fossil record of a Trypanosoma generic lineage.

Early Cretaceous flagellates with characters typical of trypanosomatids were found in the gut of sand fly larvae, as well as in surrounding debris, in Burmese amber. This discovery supports a hypothesis in which free-living trypanosomatids could have been acquired by sand fly larvae in their feeding environment and then carried transtadially into the adult stage. At some point in time, specific genera were introduced into vertebrates, thus establishing a dixenous life cycle.

Remains of parasites in vertebrates are rare from the Mesozoic and Paleozoic. Once most parasites that live in - or pass through - the gastrointestinal tract of vertebrates, fossil feces (coprolites) or even intestinal contents (enterolites) can eventually preserve their remains. Here we announce the discovery of a spiral shark coprolite from the Paleozoic bearing a cluster of 93 small oval-elliptical smooth-shelled structures, interpreted as eggs of a tapeworm.The eggs were found in a thin section of an elasmobranch coprolite. Most of the eggs are filled by pyrite and some have a special polar swelling (operculum), suggesting they are non-erupted eggs. One of the eggs contains a probable developing larva. The eggs are approximately 145-155 µm in length and 88-100 µm in width and vary little in size within the cluster. The depositional and morphological features of the eggs closely resemble those of cestodes. Not only do the individual eggs have features of extant tapeworms, but their deposition all together in an elongate segment is typical to modern tapeworm eggs deposited in mature segments (proglottids). This is the earliest fossil record of tapeworm parasitism of vertebrates and establishes a timeline for the evolution of cestodes. This discovery shows that the fossil record of vertebrate intestinal parasites is much older than was hitherto known and that the interaction between tapeworms and vertebrates occurred at least since the Middle-Late Permian.

Ants can serve as developmental, definitive, intermediate, or carrier hosts of a variety of nematodes. Parasitic ant nematodes include members of the families Mermithidae, Tetradonematidae, Allantonematidae, Seuratidae, Physalopteridae, Steinernematidae, and Heterorhabditidae. Those nematodes that are phoretically associated with ants, internally or externally, are represented by the Rhabditidae, Diplogastridae, and Panagrolaimidae. Fossils of mermithids, tetradonematids, allantonematids, and diplogastrids associated with ants show the evolutionary history of these relationships, some of which date back to the Eocene (40 mya).