''Araneagryllus'' 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

in the subfamily Phalangopsinae with the sole species ''Araneagryllus dylani''. The fossil was recovered in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

from early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

Burdigalian The Burdigalian is, in the geologic timescale, an age (geology), age or stage (stratigraphy), stage in the early Miocene. It spans the time between 20.43 ± 0.05 annum, Ma and 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). Preceded by the Aquitanian (sta ...

stage

Dominican amber Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic derived from resin of the extinct tree '' Hymenaea protera''. Dominican amber differentiates itself from Baltic amber by being nearly always transparent, and it has a higher number of fossil in ...

deposits on the island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

. ''Araneagryllus'' is the first Phalangopsinae cricket to be described from the fossil record. The genus is known from a single long female specimen, 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 ...

, currently deposited in the collections 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 ...

, as number "DR-12-32", and which was first studied by Dr. Sam W. Heads. Dr. Heads published his 2010

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 ...

in the ''

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society The ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering zoology published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Linnean Society. The editor-in-chief is Maarten Christenhusz (Linnean Society) ...

'' volume number 158. The genus name is a combination of 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 ...

''aranea'' meaning "spider" and ''gryllus'', meaning "cricket" in reference to the common name given the subfamily where ''Araneagryllus'' is placed. The species name is in honor of Dylan L. Heads, son of Dr. Heads. The female has a notable development of a white "emulsion" developed around the mouth parts and on the abdomen. ''Araneagryllus dylani'' possesses a wide shield-like, pronotum which has irregularly spaced

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 ...

and prominent ridges along the center and margins. The legs are long with areas of short and long setae, and are marked with a pattern of dark marking ranging from spots on the profemur to stripes on the mesotibia. The metatibia sports two rows of ten to twelve spines, four subapical spurs, and three apical spurs. The middle apical spur is notably longer than the other two spurs. Both cerci the joint of one hind leg and the

ovipositor The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typica ...

are incomplete, having been removed during shaping and polishing of the amber specimen. Cladistic analysis places ''Araneagryllus'' within a clade composed of '' Arachnopsita'', '' Leptopedetes'', '' Longuripes'', '' Mayagryllus'', '' Nemoricantor'', and '' Prolonguripes''. All seven genera, among other characters, possessing an elongated middle apical spur.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4784074

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages). It is one of the mo ...

Fossil Orthoptera genera

Burdigalian life Miocene insects of North America Prehistoric insects of the Caribbean

Dominican amber Fossil taxa described in 2010 Taxa named by Sam W. Heads Monotypic prehistoric insect genera Species known from a single specimen