Cascoplecia

Cascoplecia insolitis, rarely known as the unicorn fly,^[1] is an extinct dipteran that lived in the Cretaceous. The type specimen was found in Burmese amber.^[1] George Poinar Jr., who described the fossil, placed the genus into a new family Cascopleciidae. One of the defining characteristics of Cascoplecia is the presence of three ocelli raised on an extended, horn-like protuberance. The distinctiveness of the family was questioned by other authors, and the genus has been subsequently transferred to the family Bibionidae.^[2][3]

reconstruction

Cascoplecia Temporal range: Late Aptian to Early Cenomanian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
holotype fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Superfamily:	Bibionoidea
Family:	Bibionidae
Genus:	†Cascoplecia Poinar, 2010
Species:	†C. insolitis
Binomial name
†Cascoplecia insolitis Poinar, 2010