Some hatchet wasps (Hymenoptera, Evaniidae) from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning, China

Abstract The genus Procretevania Zhang and Zhang, 2000 is re-diagnosed and two new species, P. exquisita sp. nov. and P. vesca sp. nov., are described from the lower Yixian Formation of the Huangbanjigou locality, Beipiao, western Liaoning, China. Procretevania has a combination of primitive and derived characters, and is probably grouped with Cretaceous Cretevania Rasnitsyn and Eovernevania Deans as a clade, within which Procretevania presumably occupies the basal place. Fossils recently found in Mesozoic deposits imply that the Evaniidae most likely originated in the late Late Jurassic or near the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition, and radiated early in the Early Cretaceous. That Procretevania is known only from females suggests that males are rare in the Lower Cretaceous of western Liaoning.