''Aptenoperissus'' is a genus of extinct

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

with eight described species, placed into the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

family Aptenoperissidae. The type species ''Aptenoperissus burmanicus'' resembles a mix between a

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

, an

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

, and a wasp. It was described by a group of researchers from

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

in a paper released online in October 2016. The piece of 100 million year old

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. Th ...

that it was preserved in was found in the Hukawng Valley of

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 ...

in Southern Asia. A new

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

, Aptenoperissidae, was described to accommodate this insect. Species of ''Aptenoperissus were'' wingless, with a strong stinger. The creature had long legs making it capable of jumping higher than most insects. Subsequently additional species were described from the Myanmar amber: ''A. amabilis'', ''A. delicatus'', ''A. formosus'', ''A. etius'', ''A. magnifemoris'', ''A. pusillus'' and ''A. zonalis''. Initially placed in

Ceraphronoidea The Ceraphronoidea are a small hymenopteran superfamily that includes only two families, and a total of some 800 species, though a great many species are still undescribed. It is a poorly known group as a whole, and most are believed to be parasi ...

, later studies placed it in

Stephanoidea Stephanoidea is a superfamily of parasitic wasps within the Apocrita; it includes only one living family, Stephanidae (350 living species mid Cretaceous-recent), as well as the extinct families Ephialtitidae (89 species, Early Jurassic-mid Cretac ...

References

Ceraphronoidea Prehistoric insects of Asia Fossil taxa described in 2017 Burmese amber Fossils of Myanmar {{Apocrita-stub