The first Cenozoic roproniid wasp from the Paleocene of Menat , France ( Hymenoptera : Proctotrupoidea )

Paleoropronia salamonei gen. et sp. nov., the first Cenozoic Roproniidae, is described from the Paleocene of Menat (Massif Central, France) on the basis of its fore wing venation. the Roproniidae range between the Mesozoic and the present time. P. salamonei gen. et sp. nov. was perhaps a parasitoid on tenthredinid sawfly larvae, as these insects were present in the wasp fauna from Menat outcrop.


Introduction
Roproniidae is a small wasp family that comprises three modern and fi ve Mesozoic genera. They share their very particular forewing venation with the strictly fossil family Mesoserphidae. There is no described Cenozoic representative of these Proctotrupoidea families. Here we describe a Paleocene fossil that corresponds to the fi rst Cenozoic Roproniidae.

Material and methods
Preparation was made using a compressed air needle. The specimen was examined under Nikon SZ10 stereo microscope and with the Environmental SEM of the MNHN Collection Department, using the mode BSE. Photos were taken with an Olympus E-3 digital camera. Several digital pictures were

R e s e a r c h a r t i c l e
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:35113D31-C1F1-470A-AA1D-6BB244A94DB3 reconstructed using Helicon Focus and Adobe Photoshop CS2 software. The terminology of body structures and fore wing venation is from Huber & Sharkey (1993).

Etymology
Named after the Paleocene period and Ropronia. Gender feminine.

Etymology
Named after Mattéo Salamone, who helped us to make the photographs and drawing of the type specimen.

Description
A body in rather poor condition with the two fore wings attached. Head 2.3 mm long, 2.8 mm wide, broader than long; head structures hardly visible, except for fragments of the two antennae. Mesosoma 3.9 mm long, 3.6 mm wide; structures hardly visible. Metasoma in poor condition and incomplete but the fi rst segment seems to be narrow tubular, not conical. Fore wing 7.6 mm long, 2.8 mm wide, apparently hyaline except for black pterostigma, 1.7 mm long, 0.23 mm wide, narrow and elongate,  (Zhang et al. 2013). In this superfamily, some groups have a relatively complete venation, as in Paleoropronia salamonei gen. et sp. nov.: Vanhorniidae Crawford, 1909, Heloridae Foerster, 1856, Austroniidae Kozlov, 1970, Monomachidae Ashmead, 1902, Roproniidae, and Mesozoic Mesoserphidae Kozlov, 1970 is transverse or conical in the former, and narrow tubular in the latter (Rasnitsyn 1990(Rasnitsyn , 2002Zhang et al. 2013). The fi rst metasomal segment of P. salamonei gen. et sp. nov. seems to be narrow tubular, supporting an attribution to the Roproniidae. The Mesoserphidae are up to now only known in the Mesozoic, while the Roproniidae are recent to Mesozoic.
Among the Mesozoic Roproniidae, Paraulacus sinicus Ping, 1928 and Mesoropronia byrka Rasnitsyn, 1990 have a cell [1M] not very narrow, only slightly narrower than [2Cu] (Rasnitsyn 1990;Zhang et al. 2013). Beipiaosirex parva Hong, 1983 has a very different wing venation (Hong 1983). Mesohelorus muchini Martynov, 1925 differs from P. salamonei gen. et sp. nov. in the cell [1M] broader and triangular with distal side much shorter than basal one (Martynov 1925). Mesohelorus haifanggouensis Wang, 1987 has a fore wing venation nearly identical to that of P. salamonei gen. et sp. nov., with a very narrow cell [1M]. The main difference being in the relative positions of the pterostigma that has its base well distal of [1M] in P. salamonei gen. et sp. nov., but it is opposite of [1M] in Mesohelorus haifanggouensis, so that the cell [1R1] is much longer in P. salamonei gen. et sp. nov. than in the latter (Wang 1987 (Zhang & Zhang 2001).
Roproniidae is a Holarctic and Oriental family. These wasps live in deciduous forests. Some species are known to be parasitoids of tenthredinid sawfl y larvae. Tenthredinid fossils are also present among the wap fauna of the outcrop at Menat and it is possible that P. salamonei gen. et sp. nov. was also a sawfl y parasitoid.