Abstract
AMONG some fossil insects collected in the Miocene shales of Florissant, Colorado, by Mr. Geo. Wilson, and transmitted to me by Mr. F. H. Ward, I find a beautifully preserved tsetse-fly. The insect is intermediate in size between the two fossil species previously fpund (both of which may be seen in the British Museum), and is evidently distinct. It may be called Glossina veterna, n.sp., and will be best distinguished by the following measurements in millimetres: length 12.5, length of wing 10.9, length of proboscis 4.1, length and width of abdomen each 5.6. The body and legs are brown or black, the abdomen without dark bands; the wings are hyaline, faintly brownish. The scutellum has long marginal and apical bristles, exactly as in the living species. The post-alar and first dorso-central bristles are also well preserved and normal. The anterior basal cell of the wing is about 0.6 mm. broad at end, its truncate apical end is short, and the lower margin does not bulge much near the end. The abdomen is hairy, as in living species. This excellent specimen affords additional evidence for the existence of two tsetse-flies in the American Miocene, astonishing as the fact is. The new species is nearest to G. osborni, but is too large to be the female of that form.
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COCKERELL, T. The Third Fossil Tsetse-Fly. Nature 98, 70 (1916). https://doi.org/10.1038/098070a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/098070a0
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