''Plumalexius'' is a

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 ...

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 ...

s in the extinct

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 Plumalexiidae, containing two species: the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

''Plumalexius rasnitsyni'', known from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

White Oaks Pit in

Sayreville, New Jersey Sayreville is a borough in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Sayreville is within the heart of the Raritan Valley region, located on the south banks of the Raritan River, and also located on the Raritan Bay. As of the 2020 Uni ...

, and ''Plumalexius ohmkuhnlei'', known from the Cretaceous

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 ...

History and classification

''Plumalexius rasnitsyni'' is known from only two fossils, 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 "AMNH no. NJ-695" and the

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype (biology), isotype ...

, specimen "AMNH no. NJ-175". The specimens are both fairly complete male specimens which are preserved as inclusions in blocks of heavily fractured yellowish

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 ...

. The fossils were recovered in 1995 from outcrops of

Turonian The Turonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS' geologic timescale, the second age (geology), age in the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch, or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Upper Cretaceous series (stratigraphy), ...

age strata in the White Oaks Pit,

Middlesex County, New Jersey Middlesex County is a County (United States), county located in the North Jersey, north-Central Jersey, central part of the U.S. state of New Jersey, extending inland from the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region to the northern portion of the ...

by Paul Nascimbene and subsequently embedded in blocks of epoxy. The type specimens are currently preserved in the

paleoentomology The most recent understanding of the evolution of insects is based on studies of the following branches of science: molecular biology, insect morphology, paleontology, insect taxonomy, evolution, embryology, bioinformatics and scientific computing ...

collections housed in 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 ...

, located in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

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 ...

, US. The two specimens were examined by Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn, who identified them as belonging to the chrysidoid family Plumariidae. ''Plumalexius'' was first fully studied by Denis J. Brothers of the

University of KwaZulu-Natal The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN; , ) is a public research university with five campuses in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University ...

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

, South Africa. Brothers 2011

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 family, genus, and species was published online and in print in the journal ''

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 ...

''. The

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

name was coined by Brothers from a combination of the family name "Plumariidae", in recognition of the original identification of the fossils, and the name "Alexandr" in honor of Alexandr Rasnitsyn. The family name Plumalexiidae is a derivation of genus name, while the

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of 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 ...

''rasnitsyni'' is a derivation of Alexandr Rasnitsyn's last name. Plumalexius ZooKeys-130-515-g001a

Based on the phylogenetic analysis that were run by Brothers ''Plumalexius'' is a basal genus in the evolution of the family Plumariidae, however the genus does not display the apomorphies that are key for Plumariidae. Due to the lack of shared apomorphies between Plumariidae and ''Plumalexius'' Brothers erected a separate family for ''Plumalexius''.

Description

The ''Plumalexius'' specimens are both well-preserved mostly complete adult males. The overall length as preserved for the larger male is , with approximately fore-wings and hind-wings. The overall coloration of the males is a uniform yellowish to reddish tone, with the wing veins bring a slightly darker tone.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1948744 Prehistoric Hymenoptera genera Hymenoptera genera Cretaceous insects Fossil taxa described in 2011 Hymenoptera of North America Prehistoric insects of North America New Jersey amber