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Lebanese Amber
Lebanese amber is fossilized resin found in Lebanon and its surroundings. It dates back approximately 130-125 million years to the Barremian of the Early Cretaceous. It formed on what was then the northern coast of Gondwana, believed to be a tropical or subtropical zone in a temperate or hot climate.Raif Milki, George Poinar, Lebanese Amber: The Oldest Insect Ecosystem in Fossilized Resin, 2001. It is the oldest source of amber with a significant number of inclusions. Up to 300 sources of Lebanese amber have been recovered and 17 of them are important sources of organic inclusions, which are the oldest of their kind. The inclusions help to document Cretaceous fauna and flora. Origins Lebanese amber can be found in Lebanon and neighboring areas of the Levant. Up to 300 different sources of amber had been discovered by 2010. The amber was deposited in the Cretaceous era and is rich in fossil synclusions. 19 of the discovered sources are rich in inclusions from the Early Cretaceou ...
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Agathis
''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside ''Wollemia'' and ''Araucaria'' (being more closely related to the former).de Laubenfels, David J. 1988. Coniferales. P. 337–453 in Flora Malesiana, Series I, Volume 10. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. Its leaves are much broader than most conifers. Kauri gum is commercially harvested from New Zealand kauri. Description Mature kauri trees have characteristically large trunks, with little or no branching below the crown. In contrast, young trees are normally conical in shape, forming a more rounded or irregularly shaped crown as they achieve maturity.Whitmore, T.C. 1977. ''A first look at Agathis''. Tropical Forestry Papers No. 11. University of Oxford Commonwealth Forestry Institute. The bark is smooth and light grey to grey-brown, usually peeling into irregular flakes tha ...
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Ceratopogonidae
Ceratopogonidae is a family of flies commonly known as no-see-ums, sand flies or biting midges, generally in length. The family includes more than 5,000 species, distributed worldwide, apart from the Antarctic and the Arctic. A 2025 study from Oxford University lists the subspecies Ceratopogonidae midges as "the most widely recognised and best-studied cocoa pollinators." Ceratopogonidae are holometabolous, meaning their development includes four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and imago or adult. Most common species in warmer climates will take about two to six weeks to complete a life cycle. Both adult males and females feed on nectar. Most females also feed on the blood of vertebrates, including humans, to get protein for egg-laying. Their bites are painful, and can cause intensely itchy lesions due to the body producing histamines against the proteins from the midges' saliva. Their mouthparts are well-developed for cutting the skin of their hosts. Some species pre ...
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Dryinidae
Dryinidae is a cosmopolitan family of solitary wasps. Its name comes from the Greek ''drys'' for oak: Latreille named the type genus '' Dryinus'' because the first species was collected on an oak tree in Spain. The larvae are parasitoids of the nymphs and adults of Auchenorrhyncha. Dryinidae comprises over 1900 described species, distributed in 11 extant subfamilies and 57 genera. Description The adult wasp can measure from 0.9 to 5.0 mm in length and in some cases can reach 13 mm. The body of the adult wasp has a 'waist' where it is constricted in the middle. The rear legs have spurs which may be used for grooming. The antennae have 10 segments. Many species have a marked sexual dimorphism, where males are totally different from the females in the size and shape of the body. Males have wings while females are often wingless and resemble worker ants. The ovipositor is retractable and not visible when retracted. Life history The female dryinid injects an egg into the h ...
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Aphelopus
''Aphelopus'' is a genus of insects belonging to the family Dryinidae. It is recognizable by only one costal cell surrounded by pigmented veins. The genus was first described by Dalman in 1823, and has cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, a cosmopolitan distribution is the range of a taxon that extends across most or all of the surface of the Earth, in appropriate habitats; most cosmopolitan species are known to be highly adaptable to a range of climatic and en .... Species Species: * '' Aphelopus atratus'' (Dalman, 1823) *'' Aphelopus bennettii'' (Olmi 2004) *'' Aphelopus camus'' (Richards 1939) *'' Aphelopus koreanus'' (Olmi 2009) *'' Aphelopus luteoceps'' (Xu & He 1999) *'' Aphelopus maetoi'' (Olmi 1995) References {{Taxonbar, from=Q4034177 Dryinidae Hymenoptera genera ...
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Psocodea
Psocodea is a taxonomic group of insects comprising the bark lice, book lice and parasitic lice. It was formerly considered a superorder, but is now generally considered by entomologists as an order. Despite the greatly differing appearance of parasitic lice (Phthiraptera), they are believed to have evolved from within the former order Psocoptera, which contained the bark lice and book lice, now found to be paraphyletic. They are often regarded as the most primitive of the hemipteroids. Psocodea contains around 11,000 species, divided among four suborders and more than 70 families. They range in size from 1–10 millimetres (0.04–0.4 in) in length. The species known as booklice received their common name because they are commonly found amongst old books—they feed upon the paste used in binding. The barklice are found on trees, feeding on algae and lichen. Anatomy and biology Psocids are small, scavenging insects with a relatively generalized body plan. They feed ...
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Sphaeropsocidae
Sphaeropsocidae is a family of Psocodea (formerly Psocoptera), belonging to the suborder Troctomorpha. Females of this family have reduced, beetle-like elytra, and lack hindwings, with males have either small or absent wings. The family comprises 22 known species (four of them fossils) in eight genera. Taxonomy * †'' Asphaeropsocites'' Azar et al. 2010 Lebanese amber, Early Cretaceous (Barremian) * '' Badonnelia'' Pearman, 1953 Chile, Recent (except ''Badonnelia titei'', which is found alongside humans in Europe and North America)Mockford, Edward L. 2005. "First New World Record for ''Badonnelia Titei'' (Insecta: Psocoptera: Sphaeropsocidae)," ''The Great Lakes Entomologist'', vol 38 (2) Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol38/iss2/1 * * '' Sphaeropsocopsis'' North America, South America, St Helena, Recent * '' Sphaeropsocus'' Baltic amber, Eocene, Southeastern US (Recent) * †'' Sphaeropsocites'' Lebanese amber, Early Cretaceous (Barremian) * †'' Sphaeropsoc ...
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Arthropleona
Springtails (class Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects. Although the three lineages are sometimes grouped together in a class called Entognatha because they have internal mouthparts, they do not appear to be any more closely related to one another than they are to insects, which have external mouthparts. Springtails are omnivorous, free-living organisms that prefer moist conditions. They do not directly engage in the decomposition of organic matter, but contribute to it indirectly through the fragmentation of organic matter and the control of soil microbial communities. The word ''Collembola'' is from Ancient Greek 'glue' and 'peg'; this name was given due to the existence of the collophore, which was previously thought to stick to surfaces to stabilize the creature. Early DNA sequence studies suggested that Collembola represent a separate evolutionary line from the other Hexapoda, but others disagree; ...
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