''Tytthodiplatys'' 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 ...

earwig Earwigs make up the insect order (biology), order Dermaptera. With about 2,000 species in 12 families, they are one of the smaller insect orders. Earwigs have characteristic cercus, cerci, a pair of forceps-like pincer (biology), pincers on ...

in the family

Diplatyidae Diplatyidae is a family of earwigs in the suborder Neodermaptera. It contains three subfamilies,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 ...

fossil found in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. The genus contains a single described species, ''Tytthodiplatys mecynocercus''.

History and classification

''Tytthodiplatys'' is known only from a single 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 AMNH Bu-FB75, which is housed in the Amber Fossil Collection of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The specimen is composed of a fully complete first

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

female earwig which has been preserved as an

inclusion Inclusion or Include may refer to: Sociology * Social inclusion, action taken to support people of different backgrounds sharing life together. ** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabilities sharing various aspects of lif ...

in a transparent chunk of Burmese

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

. The age of the amber deposits in

Kachin State Kachin State (; Jingpho language, Kachin: ) is the northernmost administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. It is bordered by China to the north and east (Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet and Yunnan, respectively), Shan State to the sou ...

in northernmost Burma are understood to be at least 100 million years old, placing them in the Albian age of the Cretaceous. The ''Tytthodiplatys'' holotype was recovered from outcrops near the city of

Myitkyina Myitkyina (, ; Jingpho language, Jinghpaw: ''Myitkyina'', ; , ''Sèna'') is the capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma), located from Yangon, and from Mandalay. In Burmese language, Burmese it means "near the big river", and Myitkyina i ...

and was first studied by paleoentomologist Michael S. Engel of the Division of Entomology at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...

. Engel's 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 species was published in the online journal ''

ZooKeys ''ZooKeys'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering zoological taxonomy, phylogeny, and biogeography. It was established in 2008 and the founding editor-in-chief was Terry Erwin (Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian ...

''. The genus name ''Tytthodiplatys'' was coined by Engel as a combination of three

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

words, ''tytthos'' which means "small" or "young", ''di'' which means "two" and ''platys'' meaning "broad". 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 ...

''mecynocercus'' is from the Greek words ''mekyno'' and ''kerkos'' which translate as "prolong" and "tail" respectively. ''Tytthodiplatys'' is one of four described earwig species found in Burmese amber. One other species '' Astreptolabis ethirosomatia'' was described by Engel in the same 2011 paper, while '' Burmapygia resinata'' was described by Engel and David Grimaldi in 2004, with the last species '' Myrrholabia electrina'' first being described by Theodore Cockerell in 1920. At the time of description, ''Tytthodiplatys'' was the oldest confirmed member of the family Diplatyidae.

Description

The holotype specimen of ''Tytthodiplatys'' is a first

female with an overall coloration that appears to be matt brown. The female is approximately in length when the cerci are excluded, and a total of in length when the cerci are included. The body is overall dotted with sparsely scattered groups of

setae In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae ...

which are not thickened enough to be chaetulose. The antennae have a fairly slender scape and are the typical eight flagellomeres long as normally seen in first instar earwigs. The legs are uniformly smooth, lacking any bristles or spines, except for a few scattered setae that are found on the upper side of the profemora. The cerci host a number of stiff and elongated setae on the cercomeres.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7861864 Dermaptera genera Cretaceous insects Fossil taxa described in 2011 Prehistoric insects of Asia Burmese amber Fossils of Myanmar Taxa named by Michael S. Engel