''Araripenymphes'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus of

lacewing The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera can be grouped together with the Megaloptera and Raphidioptera in t ...

in the family

Nymphidae Nymphidae, sometimes called split-footed lacewings, are a family of winged insects of the order Neuroptera. There are 35 extant species native to Australia and New Guinea. Nymphidae stand somewhat apart from other living Myrmeleontoidea. The ...

known from fossils found in the Crato Formation of the Araripe Basin in South America. The genus contains a single species, ''Araripenymphes seldeni''. The genus was named after the basin.

History and classification

When first described, ''A. seldoni'' was known from a single fossil adult which is a compression-impression fossil preserved in layers of soft sedimentary rock. Along with other well-preserved insect fossils, the ''A. seldoni'' specimens were collected from layers of the Upper Aptian Crato Formation. The formation is composed of unweathered grey and oxidized yellow limestones, which preserved numerous insects, fish, birds and reptiles as a notable lagerstätte. The area is a preserved inland lake or one of a series of lakes, though the nature as a fresh or salt-water body is uncertain. The depth of the basin has been suggested as either shallow or fairly deep. The basin formed near the center of the supercontinent

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

during the early part of the diversification of flowering plants. The ''A. seldoni'' holotype specimen was preserved in the Brazilian Society of Paleoarthropodology collections when first studied. The fossil was described by paleontologists Federica Menon, Rafael G. Martins-Neto and David M. Martill in a 2005 paper. The genus name is a combination of ''Araripe'', for the Araripe Basin where the fossil was collected, combined with ''nymphes'', taken from the family name Nymphidae. They coined the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''seldoni'' to honor Paul Selden, professor with the University of Manchester. A second specimen was described by Justine Myskowiak and a research team who published a description of it and a slight revision of the genus diagnosis in 2016.

Description

The species shows probable sexual dimorphism, with differences in the wing coloration and wing lengths noted between fossils SBPr-I-2365 and iQ563. In SBPr-I-2365 the fore wings are longer than iQ563, which has long fore wings. In contrast the hind wings of iQ563 are longer than the long hind wings of SBPr-I-2365. In addition to the length differences, all four wings of iQ563 display mottled light and dark color patterning, while the wings of SBPr-I-2365 are

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from el, ὑάλινος, translit=hyálinos, lit=transparent, and el, ὕαλος, translit=hýalos, lit=crystal, glass, label=none. Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is ...

and have no patterning at all. The full body length of iQ563 is approximately . The heads of both fossils are shorter than wide, with large eyes placed on the sides. The antennae of SBPr-I-2365 are long and have many segments, while the antennae of iQ563 were not preserved. In both specimens the abdomen terminations are poorly preserved making gender identification impossible.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q21368959 Nymphidae Cretaceous insects Aptian life Cretaceous animals of South America Cretaceous Brazil Fossils of Brazil Crato Formation Fossil taxa described in 2005