A new labiduroid earwig from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber (Dermaptera: Labiduroidea)

The earwig family Labiduridae occupies a putatively important position in the phylogeny of Dermaptera and is clearly of significant antiquity, with occurrences from the mid-Cretaceous and perhaps the Early Cretaceous. Nonetheless, palaeontological data on the family remains scant. Here we report a new genus and species of labidurids from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. Metaxylabis baii gen. et sp. nov. is described and figured, and its characters are compared with those of all other Mesozoic Labiduridae. The genus can be excluded from all of the current subfamilies of Labiduridae and is placed in its own subfamily, Metaxylabidinae subfam. nov. Remarks are given on the phylogenetic affinities of Mesozoic fossils and the need for more extensive sampling of palaeontological and genomic data.