''Iberoraphidia'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

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 ...

snakefly Snakeflies are a group of predatory insects comprising the order Raphidioptera with two extant families: Raphidiidae and Inocelliidae, consisting of roughly 260 species. In the past, the group had a much wider distribution than it does now; snak ...

in the family Mesoraphidiidae. The genus is solely known from a

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

, Lower Barremian, fossil found in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Currently the genus is composed of a single species, ''Iberoraphidia dividua''.

History and classification

''Iberoraphidia dividua'' is known only from one fossil, the

part and counterpart 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 fo ...

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 number GZG.RF.7563. which is housed in the Geo-Sciences center of the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The specimen 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 ...

lithographic limestone Lithographic limestone is hard limestone that is sufficiently fine-grained, homogeneous and defect-free to be used for lithography. Geologists use the term "lithographic texture" to refer to a grain size under 1/250 mm. The term "sublitho ...

, dating to the Lower Barremian age, which was recovered from outcrops of the

La Pedrera de Rúbies Formation The La Pedrera de Rúbies Formation, also called as La Pedrera de Meià is an Early Cretaceous ( late Berriasian to early Barremian geologic formation in Catalonia, Spain. The formation crops out in the area of the Montsec in the Organyà Bas ...

formed by deposition of carbonate mud in a brackish or freshwater lagoon. The outcrop is located in the

Serra del Montsec The Montsec Range ( ; ) is a mountain system of the Pre-Pyrenees. Description The Serra del Montsec consists of a series of calcareous mountain ranges running roughly from east to west. The range system is about 40 km long and 186.96 sq ...

region near the town of Santa Maria de Meia,

province of Lleida The Province of Lleida (; ; ) is one of the four provinces of Catalonia. It lies in northeastern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Catalonia, and is bordered by the provinces of Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Zarag ...

. ''Iberoraphidia'' was first studied by the paleoentomologists James E. Jepson and Edmund A. Jarzembowski from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and Jörg Ansorge from Germany. Their 2011

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 new genus and species was published in the entomology journal ''

Palaeontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geo ...

''. The genus name ''Iberoraphidia'' was coined by the researchers as a combination of the snakefly genus ''

Raphidia ''Raphidia'' is a genus of snakefly, mainly found in Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

'' and "Ibero" which is in reference to the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

where the type locality is. 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 ...

''dividua'' is taken from the word "divided" and is a reference to the unique divided structure of the

pterostigma The pterostigma (plural: pterostigmata) is a group of specialized cells in the outer wings of insects, which are often thickened or coloured, and thus stand out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonflies, but present also in ...

Description

The holotype is composed of a single fully complete adult

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 hindwi ...

of in length with distinct macrotrichiae on both the C vein and parts of the R vein. The overall vein structure displayed by the specimen is most similar to that seen in the family Mesoraphidiidae, being distinctly simpler in structure then venation seen in the family Baissopteridae. Several features of the wing are used to distinguish ''Iberoraphidia'' from other Mesoraphidiidae genera. The wing possesses a fork of the MA and MP veins that is closer to the wing base then seen in most other genera, with only the genus ''

Ororaphidia ''Ororaphidia'' is an extinct genus of snakefly containing two species: the type species ''Ororaphidia megalocephala'' and ''Ororaphidia bifurcata''. History and classification Doctors Michael S. Engel and Dong Ren first studied and described ...

'' having a similar shift. ''Iberoraphidia'' can be further separated from both ''Ororaphidia'' and other Mesoraphidiids by the distinctly divided pterostigma. In total the pterostigma is over long, however the basal and apical sections are separated by a long middle cell.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5983957 Raphidioptera Fossil taxa described in 2011 Cretaceous insects of Europe Natural history of Spain Early Cretaceous insects Early Cretaceous arthropods of Europe Monotypic prehistoric insect genera