''Lutzomyia adiketis'' 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 ...

sandfly Sandfly (or sand fly) is a colloquial name for any species or genus of flying, biting, blood-sucking dipteran (fly) encountered in sandy areas. In the United States, ''sandfly'' may refer to certain horse flies that are also known as "greenhea ...

in the

moth fly Psychodidae, called drain flies, sink flies, filter flies, sewer flies, or sewer gnats, is a family of true flies. Some genera have short, hairy bodies and wings giving them a "furry" moth-like appearance, hence one of their common names, moth f ...

subfamily

Phlebotominae The Phlebotominae are a subfamily of the family Psychodidae. In several countries, their common name is sandfly; but that name is also applied to other flies. The Phlebotominae include many genera of blood-feeding (hematophagous) flies, including ...

. ''L. adiketis'' is 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 ...

of the extinct '' Paleoleishmania neotropicum'' and both species are solely known from early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first 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 means "less recen ...

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

stage

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 ...

deposits on the island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

History and classification

The species is known solely 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, number # P-3–5, a complete female fly. The specimen is currently residing in the Poinar Amber Collection housed at 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 co ...

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...

. The specimen was collected from an unidentified amber mine in the

Cordillera Septentrional The Cordillera Septentrional is a mountain range that runs parallel to the north coast of the Dominican Republic, with extensions to the northwest as Tortuga island in Haiti, and to the southeast through lowlands to where it rises as the Sierra d ...

between Puerto Plata and

Santiago de los Caballeros Santiago de los Caballeros (; '' en, James, son of Zebedee, Saint James of the Knights''), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the cap ...

. The specimen 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. Poinar published his 2008

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 ...

in the journal ''

Parasites & Vectors ''Parasites & Vectors'' is a peer-reviewed open-access medical journal published by BioMed Central. The journal publishes articles on the biology of parasites, parasitic diseases, intermediate hosts, vectors and vector-borne pathogens. ''Parasites ...

''. The specific epithet "''adiketis''" was coined by the author as a derivation from the Greek word ('), meaning "injurious".

Description

Paleoleishmania neotropicum amastigotes in proboscis of Lutzomyia adiketis

A number of features in the female fly indicate its placement in the moth fly subfamily Phlebotominae. The specimen lacks an eye bridge and has antenna segments, flagellomeres, with a fusiform shape. The wing venation includes a four branched Rs vein and two longitudinal veins present between the radial and medial forks. Though a number of characters are similar to both the ''Lutzomyia'' subgenera ''

Lutzomyia ''Lutzomyia'' is a genus of phlebotomine sand flies consisting of nearly 400 species, at least 33 of which have medical importance as vectors of human disease. Species of the genus ''Lutzomyia'' are found only in the New World, distributed in ...

'' and '' Pintomyia'', it lacks the diagnostic row of spines that are found on the femur in ''Pintomyia'' species. As a result, Dr. Poinar tentatively placed the species into subgenus ''Lutzomyia''. The total length of the body is with an overall brown coloration to the body antenna, and legs. The specimen is missing the left hind leg and both middle legs along with most of the antenna hairs and many body hairs. Portions of the legs and many of the hairs are preserved behind the fly in the amber. This placement suggests that the fly struggled to free itself from the resin when first trapped. Found preserved in the

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elong ...

and

alimentary tract The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans and ...

of the fly were hundreds of

trypanosomatid Trypanosomatida is a group of kinetoplastid excavates distinguished by having only a single flagellum. The name is derived from the Greek ''trypano'' (borer) and ''soma'' (body) because of the corkscrew-like motion of some trypanosomatid species. ...

parasites of the species '' Paleoleishmania neotropicum''. During the struggle the fly ruptured her alimentary tract, which allowed some of the

flagellate A flagellate is a cell or organism with one or more whip-like appendages called flagella. The word ''flagellate'' also describes a particular construction (or level of organization) characteristic of many prokaryotes and eukaryotes and their ...

s in the gut to leak into the hemocoel. The species ''P. neotropicum'' described from these fossils is the second known occurrence for this parasitic genus. The Dominican amber species '' Pintomyia paleotownsendi'' and '' P. falcaorum'' have a Sc vein that is free. The Sc meets the costa vein in '' P. paleotrichia''. In contrast '' P. brazilorum'', '' P. killickorum'', '' Lutzomyia filipalpis'', '' L. miocena'', '' L. paleopestis'', '' L. schleei'', and '' L. succini'' all possess an Sc which meets the R₁ vein. The presence of a forked Sc vein in the wings, found in some ''Lutzomyia'' species including ''Lutzomyia adiketis'', is unique among the described species of sandflies from Dominican amber. Living members of the Phlebotominae suck blood from vertebrates, and ''L. adiketis'' is presumed to have done so as well. However, the host(s) of this species has not been identified at this time. The Dominican Republic is now home to only two living species of ''Lutzomyia'', '' L. cayennensis hispaniolae'' and '' L. christophei'' and both species are placed in the ''Verrucarum'' species group. none of the described ''Verrucarum'' group species possess the forked Sc vein that distinguishes ''L. adiketis'' from the modern species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4043273 Psychodidae Prehistoric insects of the Caribbean Fauna of Hispaniola Diptera of North America Miocene insects of North America Burdigalian first appearances Burdigalian extinctions Fossil taxa described in 2008 Insects described in 2008 Insects of the Dominican Republic Taxa named by George Poinar Jr.