Discoscapidae fam. nov. (Hymenoptera: Apoidea), a new family of stem lineage bees with associated beetle triungulins in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

A new family, genus and species of minute, stem lineage, pollen-collecting bee is described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. The female specimen of Discoscapa apicula gen. et sp. nov. in the new family Discoscapidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) shares with modern bees, plumose hairs, a rounded pronotal lobe, middle and hind leg scopae containing pollen grains and a pair of spurs on the hind tibia. But its narrow hind basitarsi, extremely low placed antennal sockets and some wing vein features are those of apoid wasps. A unique diagnostic character of the new family not found on any extant or extinct lineage of apoid wasps or bees is a bifurcated scape. Pollen grains in scopae on the femur and tibia of the middle and hind legs and on the claw and tarsus of the middle leg show that the bee had recently visited one or more flowers. Further evidence of this action is the presence of 21 beetle triungulins in the amber, five of which are in direct contact with the bee.