''Formosibittacus'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

hangingfly Bittacidae is a family of Mecoptera, scorpionflies commonly called hangingflies or hanging scorpionflies. The genus ''Bittacus'', comprising approximately 75% of all species within the family, occurs worldwide. Other genera are mostly confined ...

in the family Bittacidae and containing a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

species ''Formosibittacus macularis''. The species is known only from the

Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period (geology), Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 161.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relativel ...

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 Conglomerate ( ...

, part of the

Daohugou Beds 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 Conglomerate ( ...

, near the village of Daohugou in

Ningcheng County Ningcheng County ( Mongolian: ; zh, s=宁城县) is a county of southeastern Inner Mongolia, China, bordering Liaoning province to the east. It is under the administration of Chifeng City. The daohugouthallus extinct genus of lichen was found ...

, northeastern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

History and classification

''Formosibittacus macularis'' is known only from one fossil, the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

, specimen numbers "CNU-M-NN2007001-1" and "CNU-M-NN2007001-2" for the part and counterpart respectively. The specimen is composed of an almost complete specimen of unidentified sex and is preserved as a

compression fossil A compression fossil is a fossil preserved in sedimentary rock that has undergone physical compression. While it is uncommon to find animals preserved as good compression fossils, it is very common to find plants preserved this way. The reason f ...

in sedimentary rock. The fossil was recovered from outcrops of the Jiulongshan Formation exposed in the Wuhua Township by Fang Liang. The type specimen is currently preserved in the Key Lab of Insect Evolution & Environmental Changes collections housed in the

Capital Normal University Capital Normal University (CNU; 首都师范大学) is a municipal public university in Beijing, People's Republic of China, China. It is affiliated with the City of Beijing and co-funded by the Beijing Municipal People's Government and the M ...

, located in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. ''Formosibittacus'' was first studied by Yan-Li Li, Dong Ren and ChungKun Shih of the Capital Normal University. Their 2008

type description A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

of the genus and species was published online and then in print in the journal ''

Zootaxa ''Zootaxa'' is a peer-reviewed scientific mega journal for animal taxonomists. It is published by Magnolia Press (Auckland, New Zealand). The journal was established by Zhi-Qiang Zhang in 2001 and new issues are published multiple times a week ...

''. The

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

name was coined by Li, Ren and Shih from a combination of the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

"''formos''" meaning beautiful and the modern Bittacidae genus ''

Bittacus ''Bittacus'' is a genus of hangingflies in the order Mecoptera. Members of the genus have a cosmopolitan distribution. The genus has existed since at least the earliest Late Cretaceous. ''Bittacus'' is considered "grossly paraphyletic" and serves ...

'' to which ''Formosibittacus'' is related. The

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of the

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''macularis'' is in reference to the numerous maculae which are present on the holotype wings. ''Formosibittacus macularis'' is one of six genera of fossil Bittacidae to be described from China. Along with ''Formosibittacus'', '' Mongolbittacus'' and '' Jurahylobittacus'' known from the Jiulongshan Formation, while '' Megabittacus'' and '' Sibirobittacus'' are from the

Yixian Formation The Yixian Formation (; formerly Romanization of Chinese, transcribed as Yihsien Formation or Yixiang Formation) is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous. I ...

and '' Liaobittacus'' is from the

Haifanggou 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 ...

Description

The holotype specimen is mostly complete with the apical sections of a single hindwing missing. The forewings and hindwings shows a clear pattern of mottled color pattering along the cross veins which would have been light and dark coloration in life. The forewings are long and the hindwings are long. The hindwings and forewings are very similar in shape and vein structure, only differing in a fusion of the 1A and CuP veins along with the 2A vein ending before the Rs starts in the hindwing. Overall the wings have a narrow base section widening to approximately along most of the length.

References

Hangingflies Middle Jurassic insects Fossil taxa described in 2008 Jurassic insects of Asia {{jurassic-insect-stub