Sepulcidae

Sepulcidae is an extinct family of stem sawflies in the order Hymenoptera. The family is known primarily from late Mesozoic fossils found in 1968 in Transbaikalia. The insects were distant relatives of modern sawflies and are part of the living superfamily Cephoidea.

The 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.

Genera

These 17 genera belong to the family Sepulcidae:

* Subfamily Sepulcinae Rasnitsyn, 1968
** † '' Sepulca'' Rasnitsyn, 1968
** † '' Sepulenia'' Rasnitsyn, 1968
* Subfamily Parapamphiliinae Rasnitsyn, 1968
** † '' Micramphilius'' Rasnitsyn, 1993
** † '' Pamparaphilius'' Rasnitsyn, 1993
** † '' Parabakharius'' Rasnitsyn, 1993
** † '' Parapamphilius'' Rasnitsyn, 1968
** † '' Shurabisca'' Rasnitsyn, 1968
** † '' Sogutia'' Rasnitsyn, 1977
* Subfamily Xyelulinae Rasnitsyn, 1993
** † '' Neoxyelula'' Rasnitsyn, 1993
** † '' Onokhoius'' Rasnitsyn, 1990
** † '' Xyelula'' Rasnitzyn, 1969
* Subfamily Trematothoracinae Rasnitsyn, 1988
** † '' Prosyntexis'' Sharkey, 1990
** † '' Thoracotrema'' Rasnitsyn, 1988
** † '' Trematothorax'' Rasnitsyn, 1988 (= ''Trematothoracoides'' Zhang, Zhang & Wei, 2001)
* Subfamily Ghilarellinae Rasnitsyn, 1988
** † '' Ghilarella'' Rasnitsyn, 1988
** † '' Meiaghilarella'' Rasnitsyn & Martinez-Delclos, 2000
* Subfamily ''incertae sedis''
** † '' Xaxexis'' Pagliano & Scaramozzino, 1989

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4416546

†Sepulcidae
Prehistoric insect families
Mesozoic arthropods
Commemoration of Stanisław Lem
Taxa named by Alexandr Rasnitsyn