Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Sepulcidae

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Kingdom
  
Animalia

Phylum
  
Arthropoda

Order
  
Hymenopterans

Class
  
Insecta

Rank
  
Family

Similar
  
Hymenopterans, Syntexis libocedrii, Xyelidae, Blasticotomidae, Orussidae

Sepulcidae is a family of extinct hymenopteran insects. The family is known primarily from late Mesozoic fossils found in 1968 in Transbaikalia. The insects were distant relatives of modern sawflies.

The first genus, Sepulca was identified by Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn. It was named by his colleague and a science-fiction author Kirill Eskov after fictional entities called sepulki, found in Stanisław Lem's The Star Diaries and Observation on the Spot. 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.

The genus included three species, as well as a number of sub-species:

  • Sepulca
  • Sepulca mirabilis
  • Sepulca mongolica
  • Sepulenia
  • Sepulenia syricta
  • Prosyntexis
  • Prosyntexis gouleti
  • Prosyntexis legitima
  • Prosyntexis montsecensis
  • References

    Sepulcidae Wikipedia