Sepulcidae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Hymenopterida
Ordo: Hymenoptera
Subordo: Symphyta
Superfamilia: Cephoidea

Familia: †Sepulcidae
Genera (3): Prosyntexis – Sepulca – Sepulenia
Name

Sepulcidae Rasnitsyn, 1968
References

Rasnitsyn A.P. Sepulcidae and origin of Cephidae (Hymenoptera: Cephoidea). In: Tobias V.I. (ed.). Taxonomy of insects and mites. Trans. All-Union Entomol. Soc. Nauka Press, Moscow. 1988. 70: 480–497 (in Russian).
Martins-Neto R. G., Melo A. C., Prezoto F., 2007. A new species of wasp (Syphyta, Sepulcidae) from the Santana formation (lower Cretaceous, Notrheast Brazil}. J. Ent. Res. Soc. 9(1):1-6

Vernacular names
polski: Sepulkowate
русский: Сепулькиды

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.[1] 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.[2]
Genera

These 17 genera belong to the family Sepulcidae:

† Ghilarella Rasnitsyn, 1988
† Meiaghilarella Rasnitsyn & Martinez-Delclos, 2000
† Micramphilius Rasnitsyn, 1993
† Neoxyelula Rasnitsyn, 1993
† Onokhoius Rasnitsyn, 1990
† Pamparaphilius Rasnitsyn, 1993
† Parabakharius Rasnitsyn, 1993
† Parapamphilius Rasnitsyn, 1968
† Prosyntexis[3][4] Sharkey, 1990
† Sepulca Rasnitsyn, 1968
† Sepulenia Rasnitsyn, 1968
† Shurabisca Rasnitsyn, 1968
† Thoracotrema Rasnitsyn, 1988
† Trematothoracoides Zhang, Zhang & Wei, 2001
† Trematothorax Rasnitsyn, 1988
† Xaxexis Pagliano & Scaramozzino, 1989
† Xyelula Rasnitzyn, 1969

References

(in Russian) Каракоз Роман. Где живут сепульки: [О двух видах палеонтологических перепончатокрылых — Sepulka mirabilis и Sepulenia syricta] // Новая интересная газета (Киев). — 2004. — № 1. — С. 5. — (Блок Z: Просто фантастика). Аннотация[permanent dead link]

Quote: Оказывается, сепулек, которые оказались вовсе не моллюсками, а перепончатокрылыми насекомыми, открыл Александр Павлович Расницын (кстати, работающий в одной лаборатории с известным писателем Кириллом Еськовым). Он-то и посылал в свое время Лему свою книжку, где, кроме прочего, были описаны Сепулька удивительная (Sepulca mirabilis) и Сепуление со свистом (дословно – свистящее: Sepulenia syricta).

"FAQ".
Martins-Neto R. G., Melo A. C., Prezoto F., 2007. A new species of wasp (Syphyta, Sepulcidae) from the Santana formation (lower Cretaceous, Northeast Brazil). J. Ent. Res. Soc. 9(1):1-6
Alexandr Rasnitsyn, Jörg Ansorge. New Early Cretaceous hymenopterous insects (Insecta: Hymenoptera) from Sierra del Montsec (Spain). „Paläontologische Zeitschrift". 74 (3), ss. 335-341, 2000-12. doi:10.1007/BF02988105