Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn is a Russian entomologist, expert in palaeoentomology, and Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation (2001). His scientific interests are centered on the palaeontology, phylogeny, and taxonomy of hymenopteran insects and insects in general. He has also studied broader biological problems such as evolutionary theory, the principles of phylogenetics, taxonomy, nomenclature, and palaeoecology. He has published over 300 articles and books in several languages. In August 2008 he was awarded the Distinguished Research Medal of the International Society of Hymenopterists.
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 and that they often "hop" for quick transportation in a similar way to that of grasshoppers. However, planthoppers generally walk very slowly. Distributed worldwide, all members of this group are plant-feeders, though few are considered pests. The infraorder contains two superfamilies, Fulgoroidea and Delphacoidea. Fulgoroids are most reliably distinguished from the other Auchenorrhyncha by two features; the bifurcate (Y-shaped) anal vein in the forewing, and the thickened, three-segmented antennae, with a generally round or egg-shaped second segment (pedicel) that bears a fine filamentous arista.
The Cixiidae are a family of fulgoroid insects, one of many families commonly known as planthoppers, distributed worldwide and comprising more than 2,000 species from over 150 genera.
Dictyopharidae is a family of planthoppers, related to the Fulgoridae. The family comprises nearly 760 species in more than 150 genera which are grouped into two subfamilies, Dictyopharinae and Orgeriinae.
Epiborkhausenites is an extinct genus of moth in the concealer moth family Oecophoridae and containing a single species Epiborkhausenites obscurotrimaculatus. The species is known only from Middle Eocene, Bartonian stage, Baltic amber deposits near the town of Palanga in Lithuania.
Emiliana is an extinct genus of planthopper in the Tropiduchidae tribe Emilianini and containing the single species Emiliana alexandri. The species is known only from the Middle Eocene Parachute Member, part of the Green River Formation, in the Piceance Creek Basin, Garfield County, northwestern Colorado, USA.
Plumalexius is a genus of wasps in the extinct monotypic family Plumalexiidae, containing two species: the type species Plumalexius rasnitsyni, known from the Late Cretaceous White Oaks Pit in Sayreville, New Jersey, and Plumalexius ohmkuhnlei, known from the Cretaceous Burmese amber.
Cebrionini is a tribe of click beetles from the family Elateridae; formerly ranked as a subfamily or family, they are now considered a tribe within the subfamily Elaterinae.
Pristomyrmex rasnitsyni is an extinct species of ant in the genus Pristomyrmex. The species is known from a single Late Eocene fossil which was found in Europe.
Yantaromyrmex is an extinct genus of ants first described in 2013. Members of this genus are in the subfamily Dolichoderinae of the family Formicidae, known from Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene fossils found in Europe. The genus currently contains five described species, Y. constrictus, Y. geinitzi, Y. intermedius, Y. mayrianum and Y. samlandicus. The first specimens were collected in 1868 and studied by Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr, who originally placed the fossils in other ant genera until the fossils were reviewed and subsequently placed into their own genus. These ants are small, measuring from 4 to 6 mm in length and can be characterized by their trapezoidal shaped head-capsules and oval compound eyes that are located slightly to the rear of the capsules midpoint, with no known ocelli present.
Zherichinius is an extinct genus of ants in the subfamily Dolichoderinae known from fossils found in amber from the Middle Eocene of Sakhalin island Far eastern Russia and Bitterfeld, Germany. At the time of description the species Zherichinius horribilis and Zherichinius rapax were two of eight ant species known from Sakhalin fossils.
Orphulella speciosa, commonly known as the slant-faced pasture grasshopper, is a species of short-horned grasshopper in the family Acrididae.
Bradoponera is an extinct genus of ant in the Formicidae subfamily Proceratiinae, and is one of four genera of the subfamily. The genus contains four described species Bradoponera electrina, Bradoponera meieri, Bradoponera similis, and Bradoponera wunderlichi. The species are known from several Middle Eocene amber fossils which were found in Europe.
Embolemidae is a family of small solitary parasitoid wasps with around 70 species in 2 genera distributed around the world. The few species whose biology is known are parasites on planthopper nymphs of the families Achilidae and Cixiidae. There is debate regarding the status of the genus named Ampulicomorpha by Ashmead in 1893, generally considered now to be a junior synonym of Embolemus (e.g.,), though some authorities dispute this (e.g.,)
Electromyrmex is an extinct genus of ants in the formicid subfamily Dolichoderinae. The genus contains a single described species, Electromyrmex klebsi and is known from a group of Middle Eocene fossils which were found in Europe.
Pachycondyla succinea is an extinct species of ant in the formicid subfamily Ponerinae described from fossils found in Europe. P. petrosa is one of three middle Eocene Pachycondyla species found in Baltic amber.
Rovno amber, occasionally called Ukrainian amber, is amber found in the Rivne Oblast and surrounding regions of Ukraine and Belarus. The amber is dated between Late Eocene and Early Oligocene, and suggested to be contemporaneous to Baltic amber. Major exploration and mining of the amber did not start until the 1990s.
Ectobius vittiventris, the amber wood cockroach or amber forest cockroach, is a species belonging to the order Blattodea and is a type of wood cockroach originally from southern Europe. It is completely harmless to humans and is not a storage pest, as it only feeds on decomposing plant material and perishes within a few days in human dwellings due to a lack of food. Its original range was south of the Alps, but is now permanently established north of the Alps and in southern Germany.
Nylanderia pygmaea is an extinct species of formicid in the ant subfamily Formicinae known from fossils found in the Prussian Formation of the Baltic region.
Otiocerinae is a subfamily of planthoppers in the family Derbidae with more than 100 genera and more than 1000 species. The species are widely distributed, especially in the Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as parts of Asia, Australia and the Pacific. Like in other Derbidae, the adults suck the sap of plants while the nymphs live mainly in decaying organic matter, for example under the bark of dead tree trunks, feeding on fungi.
