''Ainigmapsychops'' 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 ...

lacewing The Hemerobiiformia are a suborder of insects in the order Neuroptera that include most of the lacewings, antlions and their allies. The phylogeny of the Neuroptera was explored in 2014 using mitochondrial DNA sequences. The results indicate t ...

in the silky lacewing family Psychopsidae. The genus is solely known from an

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

fossil found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. At the time of its description the new genus was composed of a single species, ''Ainigmapsychops inexspectatus''.

History and classification

''Ainigmapsychops inexspectatus'' is known only from one fossil, the part side of 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 SRUI 99-96-76, which is housed in the collections of the

Stonerose Interpretive Center The Stonerose Interpretive center & Eocene Fossil Site is a 501c(3), 501c(3) non-profit public museum and fossil dig located in Republic, Washington. The center was established in 1989 and houses fossils that have been featured in ''National Geo ...

Republic, Washington Republic is a city in Ferry County, Washington, United States. The population was 992 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Ferry County. It was the largest mining camp in the Republic Mining District, and home to the "Hot Air Line" rail ...

. 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 ...

in silty yellow to grayish

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

, which was recovered from outcrops of the Tom Thumb Tuff member of the

Klondike Mountain Formation The Klondike Mountain Formation is an Early Eocene (Ypresian) geological formation located in the northeast central area of Washington (state), Washington state. The formation is composed of volcanic rocks in the upper unit and volcanic plus lacu ...

. The formation is approximately

Early Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

Ypresian In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

in age, being radiometrically dated as . ''Ainigmapsychops'' was first studied by the paleoentomologists Vladimir N. Makarkin of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and S. Bruce Archibald from

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

Burnaby, British Columbia Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard ...

. Their 2014

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 online 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 genus name ''Ainigmapsychops'' was coined by the researchers as a combination of the silky lacewing type genus ''

Psychopsis ''Psychopsis'' is a genus of four known species of orchids native to northern South America, Central America and Trinidad. The genus name is abbreviated ''Pyp.'' in the horticultural trade. Description ''Psychopsis'' are epiphytic orchids with ...

'' and the

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 ...

word ''Ainigma'' meaning "riddle" or "enigma", which is in reference to the unusual nature of the wing vein structure. 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 ...

''inexspectatus'' is 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 ...

word meaning "unexpected, unlooked for", alluding to the

serendipitous Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. The term was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. The concept is often associated with scientific and technological breakthroughs, where accidental discoveries led to new insights or inventions. Man ...

find of the wing. Areas of the ''Ainigmapsychops'' wing venation are similar to members of the

neuroptera The insect order (biology), order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera is grouped together with the Megaloptera (alderflies, f ...

n family

Osmylidae Osmylidae are a small family of winged insects of the net-winged insect order Neuroptera. The osmylids, also called lance lacewings, stream lacewings or giant lacewings, are found all over the world except North and Central America. There are ar ...

. The branches of the CuA, CuP and AA1 veins all have a steep departure angle compared to the main veins in front of them and in relation to the wing margin. There are a number of features that do not conform to the characters found in Osmylidae however. The structure seen in the subcostal area, that of the second longitudinal wing vein, posterior to the costa, shows at least six weakly developed cross-veins with no connecting veins between the cross veins. This structuring is also seen in the Cretaceous Psychopsid species '' Undulopsychopsis alexi''.

Description

The holotype is composed of a single partially complete fore-wing which is missing both the basal and the apical areas. The preserved section of the fore-wing is approximately long and wide, with an estimated length, if whole, of . The wing has a costal space that is wide, widening towards the wing base, and which narrows greatly approaching the apex. The wing does not show any cross-veins in the preserved areas of the costal space. The subcostal space is narrow showing at least six preserved cross-veins. The RA space is also narrow, but shows at least ten cross-veins which are irregularly spaced.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18748269 Myrmeleontiformia Ypresian insects Fossil taxa described in 2014 Eocene insects of North America Klondike Mountain Formation Monotypic prehistoric insect genera