''Avenaphora'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus of

flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...

in the family

Dolichopodidae Dolichopodidae, the long-legged flies, are a large, cosmopolitan family of true flies with more than 8,000 described species in about 250 genera. The genus '' Dolichopus'' is the most speciose, with some 600 species. Dolichopodidae generally a ...

. It is known from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. (PDF given is the manuscript version) ''Avenaphora'' is a Dolichopodidae ''sensu lato'' of uncertain affinities. It was originally placed in the subfamily

Microphorinae Microphorinae is a subfamily of fly, flies in the family Dolichopodidae. It is part of an expanded concept of the family, Dolichopodidae ''sensu lato'', though it was previously considered a family of its own. Genera The subfamily includes seven ...

by Grimaldi and Cumming in 1999, but the authors suggested that it could actually have a closer affinity with

Parathalassiinae Parathalassiinae is a subfamily of flies in the family Dolichopodidae. It is part of an extended concept of the family, Dolichopodidae ''sensu lato'', and forms a monophyletic group with Dolichopodidae ''sensu stricto''. It was once placed provi ...

or Dolichopodidae ''sensu stricto''. A later article published in 2017 suggested that ''Avenaphora'' actually has more similarities to the Parathalassiinae than the Microphorinae or Dolichopodidae ''s.str.'', but the authors did not place the genus in the Parathalassiinae as it does not have clear

synapomorphy In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel Phenotypic trait, character or character state that has evolution, evolved from its ancestral form (or Plesiomorphy and symplesiomorphy, plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy sh ...

with them.

Species

The genus contains two species: * †''Avenaphora gallica'' Nel, Garrouste & Daugeron, 2017 – Piolenc amber, France, Early

Santonian The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya ( million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 m ...

* †''Avenaphora hispida'' Grimaldi & Cumming, 1999 –

Lebanese amber Lebanese amber is fossilized resin found in Lebanon and its surroundings. It dates back approximately 130-125 million years to the Barremian of the Early Cretaceous. It formed on what was then the northern coast of Gondwana, believed to be a tropic ...

Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 125.77 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma (Historically, this stage was placed at 129.4 million to approximately 125 million years ago) It is a ...

References

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages). It is one of the mo ...

Prehistoric Diptera genera Cretaceous insects of Asia Lebanese amber Cretaceous insects of Europe Barremian genus first appearances Santonian genus extinctions Aptian genera Albian genera Cenomanian genera Turonian genera Coniacian genera Cretaceous France Fossil taxa described in 1999 Insects described in 1999 {{cretaceous-insect-stub