''Nesagapostemon'' 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 ...

of sweat bee in the

Halictidae Halictidae is the second-largest family of bees (clade Anthophila) with nearly 4,500 species. They are commonly called sweat bees (especially the smaller species), as they are often attracted to perspiration. Halictid species are an extremely div ...

subfamily

Halictinae Within the insect order Hymenoptera, the Halictinae are the largest, most diverse, and most recently diverged of the four halictid subfamilies. They comprise over 2400 bee species belonging to the five taxonomic tribes Augochlorini, Thrinchost ...

. At present, it contains the single species ''Nesagapostemon moronei''. The genus name ''Nesagapostemon'' is derived from a combination of 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 ...

''nesos'', meaning "island", and ''

Agapostemon The genus ''Agapostemon'' (literally "stamen loving") is a common group of Western Hemisphere Halictidae, sweat bees. They are members of the family of bees known as Halictidae. Unlike other sweat bees, they are not attracted to human sweat. The ...

'', a very similar genus of halictids which may be related. The species is named in honor of Ettore Morone of

Turin, Italy Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. The species is known from 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 ...

, a single long female currently in the private collection owned by Morone (catalog number MACT-1172), and which was first studied by Dr. Michael S. Engel. Engel published his

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 ''

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 ...

'' in 2009. The holotype is fairly well preserved in 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 ...

from 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 ...

. However the animal has several fractures around the metasoma. In addition, a number of small bubbles and orange debris in the amber surround the body and three '' Proplebeia dominicana'' workers, also trapped in the amber, obscure portions of the body. The

forewing Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwi ...

s of the ''Nesagapostemon'' female are and held at an angle to line of the thorax. Though hard to determine because of the preservation, where visible, the specimen has a metallic coloration to the head and thorax. The antenna are dark brown while the tegula is translucent brown and the metasomal tegra are dark brown with weak metallic green highlights. The legs are dark reddish brown and the wings are

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from , and . Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is named after its glassy appearance on fresh gross pathology. On light microscopy of H&E stained slides, the extracellula ...

with brown veins. ''Nesagapostemon'' is one of only five Halictidae genera which are known from the Dominican amber record, three of which are totally extinct. ''Nesagapostemon'' has a strong keel or carina encircling the Propodeum. The basal area of the Propodeum, not slanting in profile, is only half of the length of the vertical posterior surface. The related extinct halictid genus ''

Eickwortapis ''Eickwortapis'' is an extinct monotypic genus of Halictidae, sweat bee in the Halictidae subfamily Halictinae which contains the single species ''Eickwortapis dominicana''. The genus name ''Eickwortapis'' is derived from a combination of ''Eick ...

'' has a longer basal area on the Propodeum and it does slant in profile. The middle legs have a dense covering of hairs, those on the inner surface being long enough to cover the metatibial spurs and those on the outside being long and plumose. Unlike ''Eickwortapis'' the inner metatibial spur on ''Nesagapostemon'' is hooked and the inner border of the "C" vein is double the length of the

pterostigma The pterostigma (plural: pterostigmata) is a group of specialized cells in the outer wings of insects, which are often thickened or coloured, and thus stand out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonflies, but present also in ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2155900

† 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 bee genera Dominican amber Hymenoptera of North America Burdigalian life Miocene insects of North America Prehistoric insects of the Caribbean Fauna of Hispaniola Insects of the Dominican Republic Fossil taxa described in 2009 Taxa named by Michael S. Engel Monotypic prehistoric insect genera