Corresponding author: James E. O’Hara (
Academic editor: P. Cerretti
The monotypic genera
For such a large family of
A preliminary investigation into the authenticity of the presumed oldest tachinid fossils by
Treated in this paper are the monotypic genera
The holotypes of
The paper by
The editors of the
Neither
The genus-group names
The “
A considerable amount of artistic liberty was taken in the depiction of NHM specimen #58513 (holotype of
The holotype of
The scutum, scutellum and at least abdominal tergites 4 and 5 are black; the remainder of the body (the head excepted) is yellow. The femora and tibiae are yellow, and the tarsi black. This coloration is most similar to that of
As with
In addition to the above features,
Fossils are the most reliable indicators of the minimum age of the lineage to which they belong, but they provide false information if they are incorrectly identified or dated. As explained above, the minimum age of the
The merging of phylogenetic data with data from fossils of known age and identity to create chronograms is becoming more common in evolutionary studies. The results are generally speculative but provide an estimated evolutionary timeline that can be further refined and tested by future research. Two recent studies on the
We are indebted to staff of the Natural History Museum (London) for their assistance during the preparation of this paper: Claire Mellish (Department of Palaeontology) facilitated our access to the holotypes discussed herein and brought to our attention the paper in which their true age was reported; Harry Taylor (Image Resources) provided the stacked images for