''Feroseta'' 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 mantidfly in the

neuroptera 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 th ...

n family Mantispidae known from a fossil found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, and which contains a single species, ''Feroseta prisca''.

History and classification

''Feroseta prisca'' was described from a solitary fossil, which is preserved as an inclusion in a transparent chunk of Dominican amber, mined from the La Toca mine in the Dominican Republic. At the time of description the amber specimen was part of the Poinar Amber Collections, maintained by Oregon State University, as specimen number N-4-16. The holotype fossil is composed of a very complete adult male. The amber dates from at least the Burdigalian stage of the Miocene, based on studying the associated fossil foraminifera and may be as old as the Middle Eocene, based on the associated fossil coccoliths. This age range is due to the host rock being secondary deposits for the amber and the Miocene being the youngest age range that it might belong to. The male holotype was first studied by noted amber researcher

George Poinar Jr. George O. Poinar Jr. (born April 25, 1936) is an American entomologist and writer. He is known for popularizing the idea of extracting DNA from insects fossilized in amber, an idea which received widespread attention when adapted by Michael Cr ...

from Oregon State University with his 2006

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 ...

of the genus and species being published in the natural sciences journal '' Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington''. The genus name was derived from a combination of the Latin "fero" meaning ''to bear'' and "seta" meaning ''bristle'', a reference to the setae present on the wings of the species. 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 ...

''prisca'' was coined from the Greek word "priscus" meaning ''ancient''. The name was amended to ''F. prisca'' in 2007 by Michael Engel and David Grimaldi, who noted the genus name was of feminine gender, and ''prisca'' the correct species name structure. ''F. prisca'' is one of two mantidfly species described from Dominican amber. The other species, ''

Dicromantispa moronei ''Dicromantispa moronei'' is an extinct species of mantidfly in the neuropteran family Mantispidae known from a fossil found in the Caribbean. History and classification ''Dicromantispa moronei'' was described from a solitary female holotype fos ...

'' was described in 2007 by Engel and Grimaldi. Engel and Grimaldi also suggested the genus placement of the species to be dubious but did not state why they thought such.

Description

The holotype male of ''F. prisca'' is nearly complete, only missing the fore-tarsus of the right foreleg. Overall the specimen is approximately long, based on measurement of the whole specimen as preserved in the amber. However measurement of the individual body segments yielded a length of approximately . The forewings are and none of the wings show a darkened

pterostigma The pterostigma (plural: pterostigmata) is a group of specialized cells in the outer insect wing, wings of insects, which are often thickened or coloured, and thus stand out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonfly, dragonfli ...

. In place of the darkened pterostigma, the wings have a notable covering of bristles in the pterostigmal area. The antennae total in length, composed of 30 individual flagellomeres. The segments show a distinct pedicel structure, having a flared upper section and narrow more peg-like lower section. The six segments at the antennal tips are notably darkened and the apical segment on each antenna have elongated tips.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20686957 Mantispoidea Miocene insects Fossil taxa described in 2006 Prehistoric insects of the Caribbean Fauna of Hispaniola Taxa named by George Poinar Jr.