''Dicromantispa electromexicana'' is an extinct species of

mantidfly Mantispidae, known commonly as mantidflies, mantispids, mantid lacewings, mantisflies or mantis-flies, is a family of small to moderate-sized insects in the order Neuroptera. There are many genera with around 400 species worldwide, especially i ...

in the neuropteran family

Mantispidae Mantispidae, known commonly as mantidflies, mantispids, mantid lacewings, mantisflies or mantis-flies, is a family of small to moderate-sized insects in the order Neuroptera. There are many genera with around 400 species worldwide, especially in ...

known from a fossil found in North America.

History and classification

''Dicromantispa electromexicana'' was described from a solitary fossil, which is preserved as an

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 ...

in a transparent chunk of Mexican amber. At the time of description, the amber specimen was housed in the fossil collection of the American Museum of Natural History in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. 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 ...

fossil is composed of a very complete adult male. Mexican amber is recovered from fossil bearing rocks in the

Simojovel Simojovel is one of the 119 municipalities of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. As of 2010, the municipality had a total population of 40,297, up from 31,615 as of 2005. It covers an area of 446.99 km2. The municipality had 145 localities, the ...

region of Chiapas, Mexico. The amber dates from between 22.5 million years old, for the youngest sediments of the Balumtun Sandstone, and 26 million years old

La Quinta Formation The La Quinta Formation is a Jurassic geologic formation which crops out in the Cordillera de Mérida and Serranía del Perijá of western Venezuela and northeastern Colombia. The formation is also present in the subsurface of the Cesar-Rancher ...

. This age range straddles the boundary between the

Late Oligocene The Chattian is, in the geologic timescale, the younger of two ages or upper of two stages of the Oligocene Epoch/ Series. It spans the time between . The Chattian is preceded by the Rupelian and is followed by the Aquitanian (the lowest stage ...

and

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages: the Aquitanian age, Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 annum, Ma to ...

and is complicated by both formations being secondary deposits for the amber, the age range is only the youngest that it might be. The male holotype was first studied by entomologists Michael Engel of the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

and David Grimaldi of the American Museum of Natural History with their 2007

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 species was published in the

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

journal ''

American Museum Novitates ''American Museum Novitates'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Museum of Natural History. It was established in 1921. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2013 impact factor The impact f ...

''. The specific epithet ''electromexicana'' was coined from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word "electron", meaning ''amber'', combined with Mexico as a reference to the nature of the preservation and the country of the type locality. ''D. electromexicana'' is one of two fossil ''Dicromantispa'' species Engel and Grimaldi described in 2007. The other species, '' D. moronei'', is from the similarly aged

Dominican amber Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic derived from resin of the extinct tree '' Hymenaea protera''. Dominican amber differentiates itself from Baltic amber by being nearly always transparent, and it has a higher number of fossil inc ...

of Hispaniola.

Description

The holotype male of ''D. electromexicana'' is nearly complete, only missing portions of the wing tips on two wings. Overall the specimen is approximately long, with forewings and a

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum ( dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

. Based on the general appearance of the pronotum, ''D. electromexicana'' is visually similar to the extant North American '' Zeugomantispa minuta''. However, the long and relatively unadorned pronotum of ''D. electromexicana'' in combination with the structural features of the plates surrounding the anus, show the two species to not be related. Between ''D. electromexicana'' and ''D. moronei'' the shorter, wider, pronotum of ''D. moronei'' along with the smaller size and longer profemoral spine of ''D. electromexicana'' separate the two species. The anal plates of ''D. electromexicana'' lack a ventromedian lobe, a feature found in all living members of ''Dicromantispa''. Due to the lack of other anal structure details the species was placed into ''Dicromantispa'' rather than into a new genus.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20686553 Mantispoidea Eocene insects of North America Prehistoric insects of North America Insects of Mexico Mexican amber Neogene Mexico Fossil taxa described in 2007