| Xiaophis Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Genus: | † Xiaophis Xing et. al., 2018 |
Xiaophis is an extinct genus of snake from the Cenomanian-aged Burmese amber deposits of Myanmar. It is known from a single species, X. myanmarensis, and is notable for being described from embryonic or neonatal remains. [1]
Crotalus cerastes, known as the sidewinder, horned rattlesnake or sidewinder rattlesnake, is a pit viper species belonging to the genus Crotalus, and is found in the desert regions of the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Like all other pit vipers, it is venomous. Three subspecies are currently recognized.
Scydmaeninae are a subfamily of small beetles, commonly called ant-like stone beetles or scydmaenines. These beetles occur worldwide, and the subfamily includes some 4,500 species in about 80 genera. Established as a family, they were reduced in status to a subfamily of Staphylinidae in 2009
Cretoperipatus burmiticus is an extinct species of velvet worm that is known from the Burmese amber in Kachin state of Myanmar, originating from the Cenomanian-Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous.
Michael S. Engel, FLS, FRES was an American paleontologist and entomologist, notable for contributions to insect evolutionary biology and classification. In connection with his studies he undertook field expeditions in Central Asia, Asia Minor, the Levant, Arabia, eastern Africa, the high Arctic, and South and North America, and published more than 925 papers in scientific journals. Some of Engel's research images were included in exhibitions on the aesthetic value of scientific imagery.
The Indian egg-eating snake or Indian egg-eater is a rare species of egg-eating snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Indian subcontinent. It is also called Westermann's snake, reflecting its scientific name. The snake belongs to the monotypic genus Elachistodon.
Prostomidae is a family of beetles with no vernacular common name, though recent authors have coined the name jugular-horned beetles. They are often found in dead wood. The family consist of two extant genera with about 20 species. Prostomis americanus is known from North America. Other species of Prostomis are found in Europe, Africa, the Pacific region and East Asia. Species of Dryocora are known from New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania.
Ripiphoridae is a cosmopolitan family of some 450 described species of beetles sometimes called "wedge-shaped beetles". Ripiphoridae are unusual among beetle families in that many species are hypermetamorphic parasitoids, an attribute that they share with the Meloidae. Members of the family differ in their choice of hosts, but most attack various species of bees or wasps, while some others attack cockroaches or beetles. Many species of Ripiphoridae have abbreviated elytra, and flabellate or pectinate antennae.
Pelecinidae is a family of parasitic wasps in the superfamily Proctotrupoidea. It contains only one living genus, Pelecinus, with three species known from the Americas. The earliest fossil species are known from the Jurassic, and the group was highly diverse during the Cretaceous. Members of Pelecinus are parasitic on larval beetles, flies, green lacewings, and sawflies.
The Stephanidae, sometimes called crown wasps, are a family of parasitoid wasps. They are the only living members of the superfamily Stephanoidea. Stephanidae has at least 345 living species in 11 genera. The family is considered cosmopolitan in distribution, with the highest species concentrations in subtropical and moderate climate zones. Stephanidae also contain four extinct genera described from both compression fossils and inclusions in amber.
In scaled reptiles, the ocular scales are those forming the margin of the eye. The name originates from the term oculus which is Latin for 'eye' and, in the broadest sense, refers to a scale associated with the eye. The numbers of these scales present, and sometimes the shapes and sizes, are some of many characteristics used to differentiate species from one another.
Congenital epulis is a proliferation of cells most frequently occurring on the alveolar ridge of the upper jaw at birth. Less frequently, the mass may arise from the mandibular alveolus. Rare cases can arise from the tongue. This lesion is more commonly found in female babies, suggesting hormonal involvement during embryonic development. The cause of this type of epulis is unknown. Also known as congenital granular cell tumor or Neumann's tumor; historically referred to as granular cell myoblastoma.
David A. Grimaldi is an entomologist and Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He received his graduate training at Cornell University, where he earned his doctorate in Entomology in 1986. Dr. Grimaldi is an authority in many fields of insect systematics, paleontology, and evolutionary biology.
The Berothidae are a family of winged insects of the order Neuroptera. They are known commonly as the beaded lacewings. The family was first named by Anton Handlirsch in 1906. The family consists of 24 genera and 110 living species distributed discontinuously worldwide, mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. Numerous extinct species have also been described. Their ecology is poorly known, but in the species where larval stages have been documented, the larvae are predators of termites.
Jacobsoniidae are a family of tiny beetles belonging to Staphylinoidea. The larvae and adults live under bark, in plant litter, fungi, bat guano and rotten wood. There are around 28 described species in three genera:
The Ommatidae are a family of beetles in the suborder Archostemata. The Ommatidae are considered the extant beetle family that has most ancestral characteristics. There are only seven extant species, confined to Australia and South America. However, the geographical distribution was much wider during the Mesozoic spanning across Eurasia and Australia, suggesting that they were widespread on Pangea. So far, over 26 extinct genera containing over 170 species of these beetles have been described. Three extant genera have been assigned to this family: Omma,Tetraphalerus and Beutelius. The family is considered to be a subfamily of Cupedidae by some authors, but have been found to be more closely related to Micromalthidae in molecular phylogenies. A close relationship with Micromalthidae is supported by several morphological characters, including those of the mandibles and male genitalia. Due to their rarity, their ecology is obscure, it is likely that their larvae feed on deadwood.
Boganiidae is a family of beetles, in the superfamily Cucujoidea. Members of the family are found in southern Africa, Australia and New Caledonia. Adults and larvae are pollenivorous, feeding on the pollen of cycads and flowering plants of the families Myrtaceae, Meliaceae, Cunoniaceae and Elaeocarpaceae. Metacucujus and Paracucujus act as pollinators for cycads Encephalartos and Macrozamia respectively. This association with cycads goes back to at least the Mid-Cretaceous, with an extinct form being found with preserved cycad pollen in 99 million year old Burmese amber.
Fibla carpenteri is an extinct species of snakefly in the Inocelliidae genus Fibla. F. carpenteri is named in honor of the paleoentomologist Dr Frank Carpenter, for his vast knowledge and interest in Raphidioptera.
The Scolebythidae are a small family of aculeate wasps in the superfamily Chrysidoidea. These chrysidoid wasps are found in Africa, Australia, the Neotropics, north China, Thailand and Fiji. They are parasites on larvae of Cerambycidae and Ptinidae.
Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The amber is of significant palaeontological interest due to the diversity of flora and fauna contained as inclusions, particularly arthropods including insects and arachnids but also birds, lizards, snakes, frogs and fragmentary dinosaur remains. The amber has been known and commercially exploited since the first century AD, and has been known to science since the mid-nineteenth century. Research on the deposit has attracted controversy due to the potential role of the amber trade in funding internal conflict in Myanmar and hazardous working conditions in the mines where it is collected.
Oculudentavis is an extinct genus of lizard of uncertain taxonomic placement, originally identified as an avialan dinosaur. It contains two known species, O. khaungraae and O. naga. Each species is known from one partial fossil specimen in Burmese amber, which differ in several proportions. Their skulls measure 1.4–1.7 centimetres (0.55–0.67 in) in length, indicating that Oculudentavis would have been comparable in size with the modern bee hummingbird if it were an avialan. Both specimens were retrieved from 99-million-year-old deposits of the Hukawng Basin in Kachin State, northern Myanmar. The type specimen of O. khaungraae is embroiled in controversy regarding its identity and the ethical issues surrounding the acquisition and study of Burmese amber. The original description advocating for an avialan identity was published in Nature, but has since then been retracted from the journal.
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