''Stenaspidiotus'' is an extinct genus of

leaf beetle The insects of the beetle family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles, and include over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making up one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle ...

in the subfamily

Chrysomelinae The Chrysomelinae are a subfamily of leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae), commonly known as broad-bodied leaf beetles or broad-shouldered leaf beetles. It includes some 3,000 species around the world. The best-known member is the notorious Colorado po ...

. It contains a single species, ''Stenaspidiotus microptilus''. It was erected in 2013 by George Poinar Jr.

Discovery

The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

was located in a fragment of

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In M ...

from the

Cordillera Septentrional The Cordillera Septentrional is a mountain range that runs parallel to the north coast of the Dominican Republic, with extensions to the northwest as Tortuga (Haiti), Tortuga island in Haiti, and to the southeast through lowlands to where it rises ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

. The amber dates from between 15–20 to 30–45 million years ago.

Description

The adult beetle preserved in amber is 10.2 mm in length with a metallic brown-black colouration.

References

† 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). It is one of the modern descendan ...

Beetles described in 2013 Fossil beetle genera Taxa named by George Poinar Jr. Monotypic prehistoric insect genera {{paleo-beetle-stub