Sepulcidae is an extinct family of

stem sawflies Cephoidea is a small superfamily within the Symphyta, commonly referred to as stem sawflies, containing some 100 species in 10 genera in the living family, Cephidae, plus another 17 genera in the extinct family Sepulcidae. Most species occur in ...

in the order

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

. The family is known primarily from late Mesozoic fossils found in 1968 in Transbaikalia. The insects were distant relatives of modern sawflies and are part of the living superfamily Cephoidea. The genus ''

Sepulca ''Sepulca'' is an extinct genus of stem sawflies in the family Sepulcidae. The genus ''Sepulca'' was identified by Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn. It was named by his colleague and a science-fiction author Kirill Eskov after fictional entities cal ...

'' was identified by Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn. It was named by his colleague and a science-fiction author Kirill Eskov after fictional entities called ''

sepulki Sepulkas, also renditioned as sepulcas, and called scrupts in English translation,"Scrupts"
at the FAQ page of Lem's off ...

'', found in Stanisław Lem's '' The Star Diaries'' and ''

Observation on the Spot ''Observation on the Spot'' (Polish ''Wizja lokalna'', with the common meaning of the expression being crime scene reconstruction) is a social science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem. The novel is a report of Ijon Tichy's travel to a faraway pl ...

''. The relation to Lem's ''sepulki'' is understandable in both Polish and Russian, but their English translation obscures their association with ancient insects as they are translated as ''Scrupts'' in English editions of Lem's novels.

Genera

These 17 genera belong to the family Sepulcidae: * Subfamily Sepulcinae Rasnitsyn, 1968 ** † ''

'' Rasnitsyn, 1968 ** † ''

Sepulenia ''Sepulenia'' is an extinct genus of stem sawflies in the family Sepulcidae. There is one described species in ''Sepulenia'', ''S. syricta''. The genus was identified by Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn. It was named after fictional things call ...

'' Rasnitsyn, 1968 * Subfamily Parapamphiliinae Rasnitsyn, 1968 ** † '' Micramphilius'' Rasnitsyn, 1993 ** † '' Pamparaphilius'' Rasnitsyn, 1993 ** † '' Parabakharius'' Rasnitsyn, 1993 ** † '' Parapamphilius'' Rasnitsyn, 1968 ** † '' Shurabisca'' Rasnitsyn, 1968 ** † '' Sogutia'' Rasnitsyn, 1977 * Subfamily Xyelulinae Rasnitsyn, 1993 ** † '' Neoxyelula'' Rasnitsyn, 1993 ** † '' Onokhoius'' Rasnitsyn, 1990 ** † '' Xyelula'' Rasnitzyn, 1969 * Subfamily Trematothoracinae Rasnitsyn, 1988 ** † ''

Prosyntexis ''Prosyntexis'' is an extinct genus of stem sawflies in the family Sepulcidae. There are at least four described species in ''Prosyntexis''. The species ''Prosyntexis okhotensis'' and ''Prosyntexis gobiensis'' were formerly included in the genus ...

'' Sharkey, 1990 ** † '' Thoracotrema'' Rasnitsyn, 1988 ** † '' Trematothorax'' Rasnitsyn, 1988 (= ''Trematothoracoides'' Zhang, Zhang & Wei, 2001) * Subfamily Ghilarellinae Rasnitsyn, 1988 ** † '' Ghilarella'' Rasnitsyn, 1988 ** † '' Meiaghilarella'' Rasnitsyn & Martinez-Delclos, 2000 * Subfamily '' incertae sedis'' ** † '' Xaxexis'' Pagliano & Scaramozzino, 1989

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4416546 †Sepulcidae Prehistoric insect families Mesozoic arthropods Commemoration of Stanisław Lem Taxa named by Alexandr Rasnitsyn