''Paradoxosisyra'' 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 spongefly family,

Sisyridae Sisyridae, commonly known as spongeflies or spongillaflies, are a family of winged insects in the order Neuroptera. There are approximately 60 living species described, and several extinct species identified from the fossil record. Description ...

. The genus contains a single species, ''Paradoxosisyra groehni'' and is placed into the extinct subfamily Paradoxosisyrinae. ''Paradoxosisyra'' is known from a solitary

Middle Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ninth and longest geologi ...

fossil which was found in Asia.

History and classification

''Paradoxosisyra'' is known from one adult fossil, 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 "GPIH Typ. Kat. Nr. 4580". At the time of the genus description, the specimen was residing in the Geological-Paleontological Institute and Museum's C. Gröhn collection, part of the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

. The described specimen is an adult female which has been preserved as an

inclusion Inclusion or Include may refer to: Sociology * Social inclusion, action taken to support people of different backgrounds sharing life together. ** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabilities sharing various aspects of lif ...

in a transparent chunk of

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 ...

. The

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

specimens were recovered from deposits in

Kachin State Kachin State (; Jingpho language, Kachin: ) is the northernmost administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. It is bordered by China to the north and east (Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet and Yunnan, respectively), Shan State to the sou ...

, in Myanmar. Burmese amber has been

radiometrically dated Radiometric dating, radioactive dating or radioisotope dating is a technique which is used to date materials such as rocks or carbon, in which trace radioactive impurities were selectively incorporated when they were formed. The method compares t ...

using U- Pb isotopes, yielding an age of approximately 98.79 ± 0.62 million years old, close to the

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

–

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Cretace ...

boundary, in the earliest Cenomanian. The fossil was first described by the Russian paleoentomologist Vladimir Makarkin of the Far East Branch of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

. Makarkin's 2016

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 journal ''Cretaceous Research''. The genus name ''Paradoxosisyra'' was coined as a combination of the modern genus name '' Sisyra'' 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 "paradoxos" meaning strange, in allusion to the unique mouth-parts not seen in any other member of the family. 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 ...

''groehni'' was coined as a patronym honoring the amber collector Carsten Gröhn who collected and promoted the study of

Baltic amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

. ''Paradoxosisyra'' is one of three Sisyridae genera described from the fossil record, the others being the Cretaceous '' Prosisyrina'' from

Taimyr amber Taymyr or Taimyr may refer to: Places *Taymyr Peninsula, a peninsula in Siberia * Taymyr Gulf *Taymyra, a river in the Taymyr Peninsula * Lake Taymyr * Taymyr Island, an island in the Kara Sea *Taymyr Autonomous Okrug, a former federal subject of ...

and the Eocene '' Paleosisyra'' from Baltic amber. Due to the different structure of the mouthparts from other members of Sisyridae, Makarkin erected a new subfamily Paradoxosisyrinae for the genus, placing the other genera into the subfamily Sisyrinae.

Description

While the placement and structure of the gonocoxites on the females abdomen and the general wing venation are most similar to genera of Sisyridae, a number of characters distinguish ''Pa. groehni''. Most notably the mouthparts are fused and modified into an extremely elongated siphon-like tube. All the other described genera in Sisyridae have adults with mandible structured mouthparts used for chewing or biting. There are several raised dome like calluses that are covered in

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 unlike other member of Sisyridae, the pronotum sclerite is present.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q24668322 Cretaceous insects Monotypic prehistoric insect genera Neuroptera genera Fossil taxa described in 2016 Prehistoric insects of Asia Burmese amber Fossils of Myanmar