George O. Poinar Jr. is an American entomologist and writer. He is known for popularizing the idea of extracting DNA from insects fossilized in amber, an idea which received widespread attention when adapted by Michael Crichton for the book and movie Jurassic Park.
Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic derived from resin of the extinct tree Hymenaea protera.
Claino con Osteno is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Milan and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Como. It is a small comune on Lake Lugano, composed of a series of small frazioni (hamlets): the biggest ones have been chosen for the municipal name.
The Thylacocephala are group of extinct probable mandibulate arthropods, that have been considered by some researchers as having possible crustacean affinities. As a class they have a short research history, having been erected in the early 1980s.
Desmoscolecida is an order of marine nematodes. It has just one suborder, Desmoscolecina, which itself has one superfamily, Desmoscolecoidea. In a worm of this order, the body tapers towards each end and is marked by a number of well-defined ridges. Their number varies in the different species. The head bears four movable setae, and some of the ridges bear a pair either dorsally or ventrally. Two pigment spots between the fourth and fifth ridges are regarded as eyes. The Desmoscolecida move by looping their bodies like geometrid caterpillars or leeches, as well as by creeping on their setae. The mouth is terminal, and leads into a muscular oesophagus which opens into a straight intestine terminating in an anus, which is said to be dorsal in position. The sexes are distinct. The testis is single, and its duct opens into the intestine and is provided with two chitinous spicules. The ovary is also single, opening independently and anterior to the anus. The nervous system is as yet unknown.
The Ascarididae are a family of the large intestinal roundworms. Members of the family are intestinal parasites, infecting all classes of vertebrates. It includes a number of genera, the most well known of which are:
Palaeocoma is an extinct genus of brittle stars that lived during the Middle Triassic to Early Jurassic Periods. Its fossils have been found in Europe.
Mermithidae is a family of nematode worms that are endoparasites in arthropods. As early as 1877, Mermithidae was listed as one of nine subdivisions of the Nematoidea. Mermithidae are confused with the horsehair worms of the phylum Nematomorpha that have a similar life history and appearance.
This list of fossil arthropods described in 2012 is a list of new taxa of trilobites, fossil insects, crustaceans, arachnids and other fossil arthropods of every kind that have been described during the year 2012. The list only includes taxa at the level of genus or species.
Palaeonema an extinct genus of nematodes from the Early Devonian. It contains only one species, Palaeonema phyticum, and is the only member of the family Palaeonematidae. P. phyticum is the oldest known fossil nematode, and was parasitic upon the Rhynie chert plant Agalophyton.
Formicodiplogaster is an extinct form genus of nematodes in the family Diplogasteridae which currently includes a single described species Formicodiplogaster myrmenema. The species is known from early Miocene fossils found on Hispaniola. F. myrmenema has been preserved in association with Azteca alpha, one of only two known fossil species in the ant genus Azteca.
Azteca alpha is an extinct species of ant in the subfamily Dolichoderinae known from possibly Miocene fossils found on Hispaniola. A. alpha is one of only two species in the genus Azteca to have been described from fossils, both found in Dominican amber. It is the host for a fossil nematode, and has been preserved with scale insects.
This list of fossil arthropods described in 2011 is a list of new taxa of trilobites, fossil insects, crustaceans, arachnids and other fossil arthropods of every kind that have been described during the year 2011. The list only includes taxa at the level of genus or species.
Ostenocaris is a Jurassic species of giant Thylacocephalan crustacean, sufficiently distinct from its relatives to be placed in its own family, Ostenocarididae. It is believed to be a bethonic animal and one of the most important necrophagous animals of its environment. Originally Interpreted as a bizarre barnacle. Ostenocaris is the most common fossil of the formation, and the main identified thylacocephalan from the formation. In the first interpretations, the genus was shown as a filter-feeding organism, which used the cephalic sac as a burrowing organ to ensure adhesion to the substrate. Based on the presence of Coprolites associated to the genus, with abundant masses of alimentary residues in the stomach of these organisms, Ostenocaris cypriformis was probably a necrophagous organism, and the cephalic sac can be tentatively interpreted as being a burrowing organ employed during the search for food, or as an organ of locomotion with intrinsic motility. Later studies agree that cephalic sac is actually extremely large compound eyes.
Heydenius is a collective group genus of fossil mermithid nematodes from the Tertiary period that cannot be placed in extant genera.
Cretacimermis is a collective group genus of fossil mermithid nematodes from the Cretaceous that cannot be placed in extant genera.
Enischnomyia is an extinct genus of bat fly in the family Streblidae. At the time of its description the new genus comprised a single species, Enischnomyia stegosoma, known from a single Miocene fossil found on Hispaniola. E. stegosoma was the first fossil streblid bat fly described from a fossil, and the only member of the subfamily Nycterophiliinae described from Hispaniola. The species is host for the plasmodiid Vetufebrus ovatus preserved in its salivary glands and midgut.
The Calcare di Sogno is a geological formation in Italy, dated to roughly between 182-169 million years ago and covering the Lower Toarcian-Late Bajocian stagess of the Jurassic Period in the Mesozoic Era. Thallatosuchian remains are known from the formation, as well fishes and other taxa.
The Moltrasio Formation also known as the Lombardische Kieselkalk Formation is a geological formation in Italy and Switzerland. This Formation mostly developed in the Lower or Middle Sinemurian stage of the Lower Jurassic, where on the Lombardian basin tectonic activity modified the current marine and terrestrial habitats. Here it developed a series of marine-related depositional settings, represented by an outcrop of 550–600 m of grey Calcarenites and Calcilutites with chert lenses and marly interbeds, that recovers the Sedrina, Moltrasio and Domaro Formations. This was mostly due to the post-Triassic crisis, that was linked locally to tectonics. The Moltrasio Formation is considered a continuation of the Sedrina Limestone and the Hettangian Albenza Formation, and was probably a shallow water succession, developed on the passive margin of the westernmost Southern Alps. It is known due to the exquisite preservation observed on the Outcrop in Osteno, where several kinds of marine biota have been recovered.
This paleoentomology list records new fossil insect taxa that were described during the year 2014, as well as notes other significant paleoentomology discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
