''Leptopharsa tacanae'' 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 ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of lace bug in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Tingidae The Tingidae are a family of very small () insects in the order Hemiptera that are commonly referred to as lace bugs. This group is distributed worldwide with about 2,000 described species. They are called lace bugs because the pronotum and f ...

. The species is solely known from 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 ...

Middle Miocene The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma to 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma (million y ...

Mexican amber Mexican amber, also known as Chiapas Amber is amber found in Mexico, created during the Early Miocene and middle Miocene epochs of the Cenozoic Era in southwestern North America. As with other ambers, a wide variety of taxa have been found as inc ...

deposits. The species is the first lace bug described from Mexican amber.

History and classification

''Leptopharsa tacanae'' 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 several ...

specimen, collection number TOT158.1, which is 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, also known as Chiapas amber. As of 2014, the type insect was part of the David Coty fossil collection provisionally housed at the

Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

, Paris, France. This amber predates a range from between 22.5 million years old, for the youngest sediments of the

Balumtun Sandstone The Balumtun Sandstone is a geologic formation in Chiapas, Mexico. The formation is up to 760 metres thick, and consists of gray sandstone, that were deposited during the Upper Aquitanian stage of the Early Miocene. See also * List of fossili ...

, and 26 million years, for the

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, which straddles the boundary between the

and

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 Ma to 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). It was prece ...

, is complicated by both formations being secondary deposits for the amber; consequently, the given age range is only the youngest that the fossil might be. The ''L. tacanae'' fossil was recovered from amber deposits along the Yalbantuc River, near

Totolapa Totolapa is a town and one of the 119 Municipalities of Chiapas, in southern Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North ...

in the Chiapas depression, distant from the major Mexican amber deposits in the Simojovel region. The geology of the Totolapa region is currently identified as Eocene in age, but the fauna of the amber is very similar to both the Simojovel fauna and to

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 incl ...

, indicating that a reassessment of the geology may be needed. The holotype was first studied by paleoentomologists David Coty, Romain Garrouste and André Nel, of the Muséum National. Their

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 ''

Annales de la Société Entomologique de France Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...

'' in 2014. 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 ...

''tacanae'' derived from the Tacana volcano, which is on the border of Mexico and Guatemala, and the second highest volcano in Central America. ''Leptopharsa tacana'' is the first lace bug to be described from Mexican amber fossils, while the related Dominican amber fauna is much more diverse with six described species as of 2014: '' Eocader balyrussus'', '' Leptopharsa evsyunini'', '' Leptopharsa frater'', '' Leptopharsa poinari'', '' Stephanitis rozanovi'' and '' Phymacysta stysi''.

Description

The ''L. tacanae'' type specimen is a male that has an approximately long body, and is long with the wings included. The original coloration of the individual is not clear due to the amber, however the color patterning of light and dark is well preserved. The venation on the hemelytra has the typical thickening, and four of the cross veins in the costal area show a distinct darkened color tone. The flattened extensions along both the hemelytra and the abdomen are edged with small spines, each of which bear short, upright

setae In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...

. The extensions are divided into two rows of subrectangular cells by a center vein. The antennae, nearly as long as the body is, are composed of four elongated segments and the last two segments are both covered with a dense, semi-erect covering of setae. The last antenna segment is also visibly darker in coloration. The head has five total spines, three spines located towards the front of the head, and two at the eyes. Two of the front spines are paired arising from the antennae bases, while the third front spine arises in between the two. The two occipital spines are curved and lay against the head capsule.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20817867 Tingidae Prehistoric insects of North America Fossil taxa described in 2014 Oligocene insects Miocene insects Mexican amber