''Albicoccus'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of scale insect in the extinct

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

family Albicoccidae, containing a single species, ''Albicoccus dimai''. The genus is solely known from the

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/ Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0 ...

- Cenomanian

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...

deposits.

History and classification

''Albicoccus'' is known from the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

specimen, collection number BMNH In. 20155(2), which along a limoniid and a psychodid fly, are

inclusion Inclusion or Include may refer to: Sociology * Social inclusion, aims to create an environment that supports equal opportunity for individuals and groups that form a society. ** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabiliti ...

s in a transparent chunk of Burmese amber.
As of 2004, the type insect was part of the amber collections housed at the

British Museum of Natural History The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum ...

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

. The

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In ...

specimen was recovered from deposits exposed in the

Hukawng Valley The Hukawng Valley ( my, ဟူးကောင်းချိုင့်ဝှမ်း; also spelt Hukaung Valley) is an isolated valley in Myanmar, roughly in area. It is located in Tanaing Township in the Myitkyina District of Kachin State ...

of Kachin State, Myanmar. Burmese amber has been radiometrically dated using U- Pb isotopes, yielding an age of approximately 99 million years old, close to the

– Cenomanian boundary. The holotype was first studied by paleoentomologist and coccid researcher Jan Koteja, of the

Agricultural University of Kraków The Agricultural University of Kraków (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Rolniczy im. Hugona Kołłątaja w Krakowie''), located in Kraków, Poland, became a university by decree of the Council of Ministers as of 28 September 1972. Formerly, it was known as ...

. Kotejas 2004

type description A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

of the family, genus and species was published in the '' Journal of Systematic Palaeontology''. He coined the specific epithet ''dimai'' to honor the Russian paleoentomologist and hemipteran researcher Dmitri (Dima) Shcherbakov, who assisted Koteja with fossil coccid research.
The family name is a derivative of the genus name ''Albicoccus'', its self a derivation of Albian, the age of the amber deposits, and "coccus" a common genus name suffix for scale insects. ''Albicoccus'' is one of three Burmese amber coccid genera that Koteja described in the same paper, the other two being '' Burmacoccus'', monotypic to the family Burmacoccidae, and the ''

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertain ...

'' genus ''

Marmyan ''Marmyan'' is an extinct genus of scale insect, containing a single species, ''Marmyan barbarae'' and unplaced in any coccid family. The genus is solely known from the Albian – Cenomanian Burmese amber deposits. History and classification ...

''. He placed ''Albicoccus'' into the monotypic family Albicoccidae based on the combination of characters that indicate a relationship to the archaeococcoid group scale insects, but are not found in any one particular family. Koteja noted the reduced eye structuring is similar to other groups with reduced eyes, but the placement of the ommatidia rows are lateral rather than in oblique or perpendicular rows. The abdomen has two pairs of setae near the end, a feature that is similar to the

New Jersey amber New Jersey Amber, sometimes called Raritan amber, is amber found in the Raritan and Magothy Formations of the Central Atlantic (Eastern) coast of the United States. It is dated to the Late Cretaceous, Turonian age, based on pollen analysis of t ...

genus '' Turonicoccus'', but all other features differ.
A

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analysis of coccid males from a number of families was performed by Hodgson and Hardy in 2013. The extinct genera ''Albicoccus'', '' Apticoccus'', '' Grimaldiella'', '' Kukaspis'', ''Marmyan'', '' Palaeosteingelia'', '' Palaeotupo'', '' Solicoccus'', '' Turonicoccus'' and possibly '' Pennygullania'', all with simple rows of eyes, were found to form a clade that included ''Burmacoccus''. The clade also includes the modern families Putoidae, Steingeliidae and Pityococcidae plus the neococcoids clade as a group. A second phylogenetic review of coccids was performed by Vea and Grimaldi in 2015 and incorporated a number of new fossil taxa. In contrast to the work of Both Koteja and Hodgson and Hardy, the 2015 analysis recovered ''Albicoccus'' as a neoccoid genus along with the fossil genera '' Kuenowicoccus'', '' Pennygullania'', and '' Inka''.

Description

The single described adult male is approximately long, with hyaline wings. The details of the head are not readily discernible, being obscured by one wing, but the eyes are clearly composed of approximately four ommatidia and an

ocellus A simple eye (sometimes called a pigment pit) refers to a form of eye or an optical arrangement composed of a single lens and without an elaborate retina such as occurs in most vertebrates. In this sense "simple eye" is distinct from a multi-l ...

. The antennae are composed of ten segments, with the

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

being the longest segment and the other segments tending towards being barbell shaped. The fore-wings are about long, without discernible microtrichia. The hind-wings in other genera are modified into elongated

halteres ''Halteres'' (; singular ''halter'' or ''haltere'') (from grc, ἁλτῆρες, weights held in the hands to give an impetus in leaping) are a pair of small club-shaped organs on the body of two orders of flying insects that provide infor ...

, but due to positioning in the amber, they are not detectable on the type specimen. The abdomen is conical in outline, narrowing towards the tip, with two very long setae on each side and having a developed penial sheath. The setae do not have any visible wax secretions associated with them. The sheath is divided into a basal rounded section and a narrow style, slightly downward curved, with pointed end.

Pathogens

An undescribed male albicoccid trapped in Burmese amber played host to the ancient parasitic fungus '' Paleoophiocordyceps coccophagus'', with two whip-like fruiting bodies emerging from the animal's head.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20817546 † Extinct Hemiptera Fossil taxa described in 2004 Cretaceous insects of Asia Burmese amber Early Cretaceous insects Late Cretaceous insects Albian genus first appearances Cenomanian genus extinctions Early Cretaceous arthropods of Asia Late Cretaceous arthropods of Asia