''Rafaelnymphes'' 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 a fossil found in South America. The genus contains a single species, ''Rafaelnymphes cratoensis''.

History and classification

When first described, ''R. cratoensis'' 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 ''R. cratoensis'' specimen was 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 lagerstätten. 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 ''R. cratoensis'' holotype specimen was preserved in the

Wyoming Dinosaur Center The Wyoming Dinosaur Center is located in Thermopolis, Wyoming and is one of the few dinosaur museums in the world to have excavation sites within driving distance. The museum displays the Thermopolis Specimen of ''Archaeopteryx'', which is the onl ...

-Crato collection when first studied. The fossil was described by an international team of paleontologists led by Justine Myskowiak in a 2016 paper. The genus name is a combination of Rafael, a patronym honoring Rafael Martins-Neto who specialized in insects of the Crato Formation and ''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 ...

''cratoensis'' in reference to the type locality the Crato Formation. ''R. cratoensis'' is one of several neuropteran species described from the Crato Formation. Other species include the nymphid '' Araripenymphes seldoni'', the ithonid '' Principiala incerta'' and the kalligrammatids ''

Makarkinia adamsi ''Makarkinia'' is an extinct genus of lacewings in the family Kalligrammatidae described by Martins-Neto in 1997 from fossils found in the Crato Formation of the Araripe Basin in northeastern Brazil. The genus contains three species dating to ...

'' and '' Makarkinia kerneri''.

Description

The single fossil has a full body length of approximately , and is mostly complete, being fossilized upside down with the legs upwards. The antennae, parts of the legs and the genitalia were not preserved. Additionally, details of the upper body, such as the presence of ocelli could not be determined. The head is rectangular in outline with the large compound eyes positioned on the sides. The preserved sections of the legs are slender and attached to the long prothorax. The long forewings are a dark brown coloring with area and spots that are a slightly darkener tone, possibly preserved color patterning. There are small trichosors present along the apical rear edges of the forewings, and as typical for the family, nygmata are not present on any of the wings. The forewings and hindwings are preserved overlapping each other, obscuring detail of the hindwing venation.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q23043577, from2=Q23043625 Prehistoric insect genera Neuroptera genera Cretaceous insects Insects of South America Early Cretaceous animals of South America Cretaceous Brazil Fossils of Brazil Crato Formation Fossil taxa described in 2016