''Tainosia'' 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 ...

planthopper A planthopper is any insect in the infraorder Fulgoromorpha, in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, a group exceeding 12,500 described species worldwide. The name comes from their remarkable resemblance to leaves and other plants of their environment ...

in the

Nogodinidae Nogodinidae is a family of planthoppers. They have membranous wings with delicate venation and can be confused with members of other Fulgoroid families such as the Issidae and Tropiduchidae. Some authors treat it as a subfamily of the Issidae. D ...

subfamily

Nogodininae The Nogodininae are a sub-family of tropical planthoppers erected by Leopold Melichar in 1898. The recorded distribution is: South America, Africa and the Middle East, South and SE Asia through to Australia. Tribes and Genera ''Fulgoromorpha Li ...

and at present, it contains the single species ''Tainosia quisqueyae''. The genus is solely known from the 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 ...

History and classification

''Tainosia quisqueyae'' is known only from one fossil, the holotype, number "BMNH Pal. PI II 62". It is a single individual of indeterminate sex preserved in a clear orange amber specimen. The specimen is mostly complete, though the right

tegmen A tegmen (: tegmina) designates the modified leathery front wing on an insect particularly in the orders Dermaptera (earwigs), Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets and similar families), Mantodea (praying mantis), Phasmatodea (stick and leaf insec ...

torn, and the hind legs are partly destroyed. The insect was entombed while in resting posture, with both the

hemelytra An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes ...

and

hindwings 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 ...

mostly closed. The amber is currently residing in the Department of Palaeontology

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 of the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. ''T. quisqueyae'' was first studied by Jacek Szwedo and Adam Stroiński, with their 2001

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 ...

being published in the journal ''

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 ...

''. 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 "''Tainosia''" was coined by Jacek Szwedo and Adam Stroiński in reference to the Tainos people who were native to Hispaniola and other islands of the

Greater Antilles The Greater Antilles is a grouping of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica, together with Navassa Island and the Cayman Islands. Seven island states share the region of the Greater Antille ...

. The specific epithet "''quisqueyae''" was designated in honor of one of the original names for Hispaniola, "Quisqueya". As with the extinct '' Tonocatecutlius gibsoni'', ''T. quisqueyae'' is placed in the Nogodininae tribe Nogodinini. All other extinct members of the family Nogodinidae currently described from the Americas are restricted to the subfamily Nogodininae.

Description

''Tainosia quisqueyae'' is in length and has a wing length of . Though similar to the related genus '' Tonocatecutlius'' known from

Mexican amber Mexican amber, also known as Chiapas Amber is amber found in Mexico, created during the Early Miocene and middle Miocene epochs of the Cenozoic Era in southwestern North America. As with other ambers, a wide variety of taxa have been found as in ...

, there are several notable differences between the genera. ''Tonocatecutlius'' has a

mesonotum The mesothorax is the middle of the three segments of the thorax of hexapods, and bears the second pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the mesonotum (dorsal), the mesosternum ( ventral), and the mesopleuron (lateral) ...

which is smooth and uninterrupted, while ''Tainosia'' has a mesonotum that bears anterolateral carinae. 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 ...

of ''Tainosia'' has a costal cell and clavus without transverse veinlets, while ''Tonocatecutlius'' has a costal cell and clavus crossed by veinlets. Similar to ''Tonocatecutlius'' is the network of veins crossing the upper half of the tegmen. The tegmen is semi-hyaline with faint but distinct color patterning present, the hindwing is hyaline and without any patterning.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7676219

† 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 ...

Extinct Hemiptera

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

Dominican amber Fossil taxa described in 2001 Monotypic prehistoric insect genera