''Trypanosoma antiquus'' is an extinct

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 kinetoplastid (class Kinetoplastida), a monophyletic group of unicellular

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

flagellate protozoa. The genus name is derived 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 ...

''trypano'' (borer) and ''soma'' (body) because of their corkscrew-like motion, and the species name from ''antiquua'' (old) reflecting the age of the specimen. All trypanosomes are

heteroxenous Heteroxeny, or heteroxenous development, characterizes a parasite whose development involves several host species. Heteroxeny has been used as the basis for splitting genera. When there are two or three hosts, the development cycle is named d ...

(requiring more than one obligatory host in order to complete life cycle) or are transmitted through some variation of a

vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

. The species was described in 2005 by George Poinar Jr. in the journal Vector-Borne & Zoonotic Diseases from metatrypanosomes preserved in several fecal pellets encased in '' Hymenaea protera''

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In ...

. The fossil was recovered in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

from early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

Burdigalian The Burdigalian is, in the geologic timescale, an age or stage in the early Miocene. It spans the time between 20.43 ± 0.05 Ma and 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). Preceded by the Aquitanian, the Burdigalian was the first and longest w ...

stage deposits on the island of Hispaniola. Included with the pellets and thought to be the origin for them, is the extinct

kissing bug The members of the Triatominae , a subfamily of the Reduviidae, are also known as conenose bugs, kissing bugs (so-called from their habit of feeding from around the mouths of people), or vampire bugs. Other local names for them used in The Ameri ...

'' Triatoma dominicana''. This association is the oldest known example of the

association between '' Triatoma'' and ''

Trypanosoma ''Trypanosoma'' is a genus of kinetoplastids (class Trypanosomatidae), a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. Trypanosoma is part of the phylum Sarcomastigophora. The name is derived from the Greek ''trypano-'' ( ...

''. 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 ...

, deposited in the

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

as specimen number P-3-3, was mined from the La Toca mine in the

. ''T. dominicana'' and ''T. antiquus'' lived in an environment similar to modern moist tropical

rain forest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...

s. The preserved metatrypanosomes range in size from 11 to 20 µm with the average length being 15 µm. The species is placed in the ''Trypanosoma'' subgenus '' Schizotrypanum'', and is identifiable by age and the average length being shorter than that of other ''Schizotrypanum'' species. Based on the contents of the amber specimen including three

hematophagous Hematophagy (sometimes spelled haematophagy or hematophagia) is the practice by certain animals of feeding on blood (from the Greek words αἷμα ' "blood" and φαγεῖν ' "to eat"). Since blood is a fluid tissue rich in nutritious p ...

insects, it is likely to have been formed in a tree cavity. Associated with the insects are several mammal hairs from an unidentified

Chiroptera Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bir ...

n, the likely host for ''T. dominicana''. The pellets are thought to have been deposited after the ''T. dominicana'' finished feeding on the host bat. Modern bat-hosted trypanosomes in the region are considered a vector for the fatal Chagas disease in humans.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7848575 Trypanosomatida Miocene life of North America Burdigalian life Neogene Dominican Republic Fossils of the Dominican Republic Dominican amber Fossil taxa described in 2005 Taxa named by George Poinar Jr.