''Miriholcorpa'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

scorpionfly Mecoptera (from the Greek: ''mecos'' = "long", ''ptera'' = "wings") is an order of insects in the superorder Endopterygota with about six hundred species in nine families worldwide. Mecopterans are sometimes called scorpionflies after their lar ...

(Mecoptera) from the

Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...

period of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The type and only

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 ...

is ''M. forcipata'', described in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Discovery

''Miriholcorpa'' was discovered in the

Jiulongshan Formation The Haifanggou Formation (), also known as the Jiulongshan Formation (), is a fossil-bearing rock deposit located near Daohugou () village of Ningcheng County, in Inner Mongolia, northeastern China. The formation consists of coarse conglomerates ...

at Daohugou Village of

Ningcheng County Ningcheng County ( Mongolian: Нинчэн шянь ''Niŋčėŋ siyan''; ) is a county of southeastern Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China, bordering Liaoning province to the east. It is under the administration of Chifeng City.

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

, China. The fossil is late

in age, from the

Callovian In the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 166.1 ± 4.0 Ma (million years ago) and 163.5 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the ...

–

Bathonian In the geologic timescale the Bathonian is an age and stage of the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 168.3 Ma to around 166.1 Ma (million years ago). The Bathonian Age succeeds the Bajocian Age and precedes the Callovian Age. Strat ...

boundary (c. 165 million years ago). The genus name derives from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''miri'' meaning amazing, in reference to the high-quality preservation, and ''Holcorpa'', the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal f ...

of the extinct Mecopteran family

Holcorpidae Holcorpidae is an extinct family of scorpionfies. It contains two genera, '' Conicholcorpa'' which is known from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds of Inner Mongolia, China, and '' Holcorpa,'' known from the Eocene of North America, including the ...

, to which ''Miriholcorpa'' shows similarities. 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 ...

''forcipata'', is Latin for

pincer Pincer may refer to: *Pincers (tool) *Pincer (biology), part of an animal *Pincer ligand, a terdentate, often planar molecule that tightly binds a variety of metal ions *The List_of_Go_terms#Pincer, Pincer move in the game of Go See also

*Pinc ...

-like, in reference to the pincer-like structures on the genitalia.

Description

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 ...

is 32.7 mm from head to the tip of the genital bulb. The left

forewing Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwin ...

, abdominal segments and genitalia are well preserved, while the

venation Venation may refer to: * Venation (botany), the arrangement of veins in leaves * Wing venation, the arrangement of veins in insect wings See also * * Vernation Vernation (from ''vernal'' meaning ''spring'', since that is when leaves spring forth ...

of both hind wings are only partially preserved. The

compound eyes A compound eye is a visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens, and photoreceptor cells which distin ...

are large and oval-shaped. The antennae are filliform. The genital bulb is enlarged with pincer-like structures, a feature hypothesized to be used in

intrasexual competition Male-male intrasexual competition occurs when two males of the same species compete for the opportunity to mate with a female. Sexually dimorphic traits, size, sex ratio, and the social situation may all play a role in the effects male-male competit ...

with males, and/or a sexual display to females.

Classification

The forewing anatomy of ''Miriholcorpa'' bears similarities to members of the

, yet the venation of the hindwings are not fully preserved, and cannot be used to definitively assign it to the family. As such, the describers placed ''Miriholcorpa'' as ''

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, uncertainty ...

''(uncertain placement) within Mecoptera pending further discoveries. ''Miriholcorpa'' was described along with another Mecopteran, ''

Fortiholcorpa paradoxa ''Fortiholcorpa paradoxa'' is an extinct species of scorpionfly (Mecoptera) from the Middle Jurassic of China. It is the only known species of its genus. Discovery ''Fortiholcorpa'' was discovered in the Jiulongshan Formation at Daohugou Villag ...

'', also unassigned to any family.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15711709 Mecoptera Middle Jurassic insects Fossils of China Fossil taxa described in 2013 Mecoptera incertae sedis Insects described in 2013