Zhangsolvidae is an extinct family of

brachycera The Brachycera are a suborder of the order Diptera. It is a major suborder consisting of around 120 families. Their most distinguishing characteristic is reduced antenna segmentation. Description A summary of the main physical characteristic ...

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 ...

known from the Cretaceous period. Members of the family possess a long

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular arthropod mouthparts, mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a pr ...

, varying in length between 1.3 and 7 mm depending on the species, and were probably

nectarivore In zoology, a nectarivore is an animal which derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of the sugar-rich nectar produced by flowering plants. Nectar as a food source presents a number of benefits ...

s. A specimen has been found with preserved

Bennettitales Bennettitales (also known as cycadeoids) is an extinct order of seed plants that first appeared in the Permian period and became extinct in most areas toward the end of the Cretaceous. Bennettitales were amongst the most common seed plants of th ...

pollen, suggesting that they acted as

pollinator A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female carpel, stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are ...

s for extinct

gymnosperms The gymnosperms ( ; ) are a group of woody, perennial Seed plant, seed-producing plants, typically lacking the protective outer covering which surrounds the seeds in flowering plants, that include Pinophyta, conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and gnetoph ...

. They are considered to be members of the Stratiomyomorpha.

Taxonomy

* †'' Buccinatormyia'' Arillo, Peñalver and Pérez-de la Fuente in Arillo et al. 2015 ** †''Buccinatormyia gangnami'' Khramov and Nam 2019 Jinju Formation, South Korea,

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

** †''Buccinatormyia magnifica'' Arillo, Peñalver and Pérez-de la Fuente in Arillo et al. 2015 Spanish amber, Albian ** †''Buccinatormyia soplaensis'' Arillo, Peñalver and Pérez-de la Fuente in Arillo et al. 2015 Spanish amber, Albian * †'' Burmomyia'' Zhang and Wang 2019 ** †''Burmomyia rossi'' Zhang and Wang 2019

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. Th ...

, Myanmar,

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Cretace ...

* †'' Cratomyia'' Mazzarolo and Amorim 2000 ** †''Cratomyia cretacica'' (Wilkommen 2007)

Crato Formation The Crato Formation is a geologic formation (stratigraphy), formation of Early Cretaceous (Aptian) age in northeastern Brazil's Araripe Basin. It is an important Lagerstätten, Lagerstätte (undisturbed fossil accumulation) for palaeontology, pa ...

, Brazil,

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

** †''Cratomyia macrorrhyncha'' Mazzarolo and Amorim 2000 Crato Formation, Brazil, Aptian ** †''Cratomyia mimetica'' Grimaldi 2016 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian ** †''Cratomyia zhuoi'' Zhang and Wang 2019 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian * †'' Linguatormyia'' Grimaldi in Arillo et al. 2015 ** †''Linguatormyia teletacta'' Grimaldi in Arillo et al. 2015 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian * †'' Zhangsolva'' Nagatomi and Yang 1998 ** †''Zhangsolva cupressa'' (Zhang et al. 1993) Laiyang Formation, China, Aptian **†''Zhangsolva burmensis'' Zhang & Zhang, 2021

, Myanmar,

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13566406 Brachycera families Prehistoric insect families