''Mongolbittacus'' 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

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species ''Mongolbittacus daohugoensis''. 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

''Mongolbittacus daohugoensis'' 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 number "NIGPAS 133709". The specimen is composed of an almost complete female specimen which is preserved as a two dimensional

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 a well cemented

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grey

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility. Although its permeabil ...

. The fossil was recovered from outcrops of the Jiulongshan Formation exposed near Daohugou by Di-Ying Huang. The type specimen is currently preserved in the

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

collections housed in the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, located in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

. ''Mongolbittacus'' was first studied by Julián F. Petrulevicius of the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Di-Ying Huang of 2Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Dong Ren of

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 ...

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 ...

. Their 2007

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 in the journal ''

African Invertebrates ''African Invertebrates'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal that covers the taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, ecology, conservation, and palaeontology of Afrotropical invertebrates, whether terrestrial, freshwater, or marine. A ...

''. 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 Petrulevicius, Huang and Ren from a combination of "''Mongol''", a reference to the region of discovery; 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 ''Mongolbittacus'' 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 ...

''daohugoensis'' is in reference type locality where the fossil preserved. ''Mongolbittacus daohugoensis'' is one of six genera of fossil Bittacidae to be described from China. Along with ''Mongolbittacus'', '' Jurahylobittacus'' and '' Formosibittacus'' are 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 fully complete with only the apical section of one fore-wing missing, and small sections of the legs obscured. The fore and hind-wings of ''Mongolbittacus'' do not show any signs of color pattering unlike the genus ''Formosibittacus'' alongside which it lived. Also unlike ''Formosibittacus'' the wings of ''M. daohugoensis'' do not have any maculae. The fore-wings are long and the hind-wings are long. Overall the wings of ''Mongolbittacus'' have a narrow base section widening to approximately along most of the length, while the body was in length. ''Mongolbittacus'' is noted as unusual due to the completeness of the specimen. Most fossil Bittacidae are known and described from isolated fragments, most notably single wings.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6899573 Hangingflies Middle Jurassic insects Fossil taxa described in 2007 Jurassic insects of Asia