Cenozoic insects from Argentina

PETRULEVICIUS J. F.

Riberão Preto

Congreso; I International Meeting on Paleoarthropodology, I Simposio Sudamericano de Paleoartropodología; 2000

A review of the information on Argentina Cenozoic insects is presented. Forty one species of Paleogene insects were named from different regions and formations. Among the Hymenoptera, Siricinae wasps are present in the Paleocene-Eocene of Patagonia. This taxon has at the present time an Holarctic distribution. Two species of Myrmeciinae ants are present in the Eocene-early Oligocene of Patagonia, together with aquatic and terrestrial insects preserved. The Myrmeciinae have at the present an Australian distribution, having in the past a wider geographical range. Other 38 species come from late Paleocene from the Northwest of the country. Thirty seven species of Orthoptera, Dermaptera, Homoptera, Heteroptera, Trichoptera and Coleoptera were named by Cockerell in the second and third decade of the century. Most of these ?species? could not be considered at present knowledge as taxa, because the specimens are fragmentary and lack the synapomorphic characters to compare them with the related species. Since 1993, new findings were carried out by the author in these insect layers. Thus far, representatives of six orders and several families have been found, including Blattodea, Odonata, Mecoptera, Neuroptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Tettigoniidae and Lygaeidae. Among these insects, it is worth noting the presence of Palaeomacromiidae, an extinct taxa of Libelluloid dragonflies. From the Pleistocene it is important to take into account the discovery of traces assignable to pupae of Calliphoridae in association with an articulated skeleton of Carnivora from the ?Ensenadense?, and an insect assemblage from 24,000 BP. The only migratory Locust found at present in Argentina (Schistocerca cancellata paranensis) was recovered from an Holocene archaeological site in the Northwest of the country.