Aptenoperissus

Aptenoperissus Temporal range: Cenomanian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Aptenoperissus burmanicus holotype
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Suborder:	Apocrita
Superfamily:	Stephanoidea
Family:	† Aptenoperissidae Rasnitsyn et al., 2017
Genus:	† Aptenoperissus Rasnitsyn et al., 2017
Type species
†Aptenoperissus burmanicus Rasnitsyn et al., 2017
Species
†A. burmanicus †A. amabilis †A. delicatus †A. formosus †A. etius †A. magnifemoris †A. pusillus

Aptenoperissus is a genus of extinct wasp with eight described species, placed into the monotypic family Aptenoperissidae. The type species Aptenoperissus burmanicus resembles a mix between a grasshopper, an ant, and a wasp. It was described by a group of researchers from Oregon State University in a paper released online in October 2016. ^[1] The piece of 100 million year old Burmese amber that it was preserved in was found in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar in Southern Asia. A new family, Aptenoperissidae, was described to accommodate this insect. Species of Aptenoperissus were wingless, with a strong stinger. The creature had long legs making it capable of jumping higher than most insects. ^[2] Subsequently additional species were described from the Myanmar amber: A. amabilis, A. delicatus, A. formosus, ^[3] A. etius, A. magnifemoris, A. pusillus ^[4] and A. zonalis. ^[5] Initially placed in Ceraphronoidea, ^[2] later studies placed it in Stephanoidea. ^[3]

References

1. Williams, Kale (October 11, 2016). "Oregon State researchers discover ancient wingless wasp species encased in prehistoric amber". The Oregonian/OregonLive. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
2. Rasnitsyn, A.P.; Poinar, George; Brown, Alex E. (2017). "Bizzare [sic] wingless parasitic wasp from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Hymenoptera, Ceraphronoidea, Aptenoperissidae fam. nov.)". Cretaceous Research. 69: 113–118. Bibcode:2017CrRes..69..113R. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2016.09.003. ISSN   0195-6671.
3. Zhang, Q.; Rasnitsyn, A.P.; Wang, B.; Zhang, H. (2018). "New data about the enigmatic wasp from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Hymenoptera, Stephanoidea, Aptenoperissidae)". Cretaceous Research. 84: 173–180. Bibcode:2018CrRes..84..173Z. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2017.10.024.
4. Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn; Christoph Öhm-Kühnle (2018). "Three new female Aptenoperissus from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Hymenoptera, Stephanoidea, Aptenoperissidae): Unexpected diversity of paradoxical wasps suggests insular features of source biome". Cretaceous Research. 91: 168–175. Bibcode:2018CrRes..91..168R. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.06.004.
5. Qi Zhang; Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn; Haichun Zhang (2018). "New female of Aptenoperissus from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Hymenoptera, Stephanoidea, Aptenoperissidae)". Cretaceous Research. 92: 8–11. Bibcode:2018CrRes..92....8Z. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.07.015.