''Triatoma dominicana'' is an extinct

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

assassin bug The Reduviidae is a large cosmopolitan family of the suborder Heteroptera of the order Hemiptera (true bugs). Among the Hemiptera and together with the Nabidae almost all species are terrestrial ambush predators; most other predatory Hemiptera ...

in the subfamily

Triatominae The members of the Triatominae , a subfamily of the Reduviidae, are also known as conenose bugs, kissing bugs (so-called from their habit of feeding from around the mouths of people), or vampire bugs. Other local names for them used in the Amer ...

, the kissing bugs known from 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 ...

. The species is known from a single 5th instar female nymph

exuvia In biology, exuviae are the remains of an exoskeleton and related structures that are left after ecdysozoans (including insects, crustaceans and arachnids) have molted. The exuviae of an animal can be important to biologists as they can often b ...

found in '' Hymenaea protera''

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 ...

from deposits in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. 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 ...

, deposited in the

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

as specimen number He-4-73, was mined from the La Toca

mine. The specimen was first mentioned in a 1995 paper describing the extinct tick '' Ornithodorus antiquus''. Though mostly complete the exuvia is missing the right foreleg, the left middle leg, a small section of antenna and the anteocular region. ''Triatoma dominicana'' is the first extinct Triatominae species to be described from the fossil record. Included in the amber specimen are two fecal pellets from the insect which contain preserved flagellates of the extinct ''

Trypanosoma antiquus ''Trypanosoma antiquus'' is an extinct species of kinetoplastid (class Kinetoplastida), a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. The genus name is derived from the Greek ''trypano'' (borer) and ''soma'' (body) because ...

''. This association is the oldest known example of the

vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

association between ''

Triatoma ''Triatoma'' is a genus of assassin bug in the subfamily Triatominae (kissing bugs). The members of ''Triatoma'' (like all members of Triatominae) are blood-sucking insects that can transmit serious diseases, such as Chagas disease. Their saliva ...

'' and ''

Trypanosoma ''Trypanosoma'' is a genus of kinetoplastids (class Trypanosomatidae), a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. Trypanosoma is part of the phylum Euglenozoa. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek ''trypano-'' (b ...

''. ''T. dominicana'' lived in an environment similar to modern moist tropical

rain forest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

s. Though similar to the modern genera ''Triatoma'', ''

Panstrongylus ''Panstrongylus'' is a genus of insects that belongs to the subfamily Triatominae. Its members are found from Mexico into South America. Species *''Panstrongylus chinai'' (Del Ponte, 1929) (Tc) *''Panstrongylus diasi'' Pinto & Lent, 1946 *''Pan ...

'', and '' Eratyrus'' several physical characters in the specimen are distinct to ''Triatoma'', the size, at being smaller than ''Eratyrus'' nymphs, and the head and thorax being granulose. Modern

does not have an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

population of Triatominae species and only the human introduced '' T. rubrofasciata''. Of the three endemic Triatominae species found in 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 ...

''T. dominicana'' resembles some features of '' T. obscura'' found on

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. Based on the contents of the amber specimen including three

hematophagous Hematophagy (sometimes spelled haematophagy or hematophagia) is the practice by certain animals of feeding on blood (from the Greek words αἷμα ' "blood" and φαγεῖν ' "to eat"). Since blood is a fluid tissue rich in nutritious pr ...

insects, it is likely to have been formed in a tree cavity. Associated with the insects are several mammal hairs from an unidentified

Chiroptera Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

n, the likely host for ''T. dominicana''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7840248 Reduviidae Burdigalian life Miocene insects of North America Prehistoric insects of the Caribbean Fauna of Hispaniola Insects of the Dominican Republic Extinct animals of the Dominican Republic Dominican amber Fossil taxa described in 2005 Taxa named by George Poinar Jr. Species known from a single specimen