Cretamisega, Lucena & Melo, 2025

Genus † Cretamisega gen. nov.

ZooBank registration: LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

Type species: † Cretamisega mandibularis sp. nov.

Diagnosis

Female mandible distinctly elongated, relatively robust (compared with other Amiseginae ) and lacking subapical teeth on laminar edge; male mandible elongated, broadly flattened, apically sharp, culminating in a short distal tooth, laminar edge lacking tooth; head not pyriform, somewhat round in profile; general body shape short and stout; malar space moderately short, 0.3 × eye height, longitudinally crossed by malar sulcus; posterolateral lobe of pronotum reaching tegula, lacking posterolateral and posteromedial pits; posterolateral corner of propodeum round, without distinct projection.

Description

Head: Not pyriform, somewhat round in profile, with frons not protruding and broad face; frons without longitudinal groove; eye bulging, ovoid, occupying much of lateral head; labial and maxillary palpomeres with three and four articles, respectively; gena wide, becoming broadened below; malar space 0.3 × eye height, longitudinally crossed by discrete malar sulcus; pre-hypostomal foveae absent; occipital carina indistinct, apparently only extended dorsally; scapal basin shallowly excavated, disc smooth, borders smoothly round, lacking carina or sharp edges; scape length 3.8 × maximum width, gently curved submedially; pedicel short; flagellum fusiform, with intermediate articles broader than long, progressively shortened from F4 to F10 and with ventral flattened areas on F4–F11; mandible huge, 0.8 × eye height, tapering apically, gently curved backwards, lacking subapical teeth on laminar edge.

Mesosoma: Evenly convex, not flattened dorsally, somewhat shortened anteroposteriorly; pronotum about as long as scutum in mid-line,anteriorly crossed by transverse groove;posterolateral lobe of pronotum reaching tegula, lacking posterolateral and posteromedial pits; notaulus deeply impressed, parallel-sided posteriorly; parapsidal line well marked posteriorly; scutellum slightly shorter than half length of scutum in mid-line, simple, evenly convex, without anterior transverse groove, pits, or foveae; mesopleuron simple, evenly convex, without transverse groove, anterior margin evenly round; metanotum about half length of scutellum in mid-line, slightly expanded and depressed laterally, without differentiated disc; propodeum somewhat round, with distinguishable lateral, dorsal, and posterior surfaces; dorsum relatively short, simple, lacking transverse posterior groove or carina, smoothly round, metapostnotum undistinguishable, posterolateral corner evenly round, lacking posterior propodeal projection; dorsum and posterior declivity delimited laterally by discrete, confluent groove; posterior declivity gradually declivitous, simple, lacking medial longitudinal groove; tarsal claw with short, perpendicular, submedial tooth; dorsum of metacoxa with longitudinal carina; dorsum of metafemur evenly convex, without anterior expansion; costal cell very narrow, first abscissa of M diverging before 1cu-a, gently curved submedially; Rs+M arising apically on M; medial cell indicated by spectral veins; R1 well developed, longer than stigma; Rs smoothly curved, nebulous distal trace fading gradually towards costal margin.

Metasoma: Four exposed terga; sterna convex and undivided medially; internalized sclerites partly exposed, composing a very slender and delicate metasomal tube.

Male: Same as female, except: mandible broadly flattened, apically sharp, culminating in a distal tooth, laminar edge lacking subapical tooth; inner margin of eye more strongly convergent on upper frons; lateral ocellus nearly touching inner margin of eye; LID and subantennal distance comparatively narrower than in female; scape cylindrical, not curved submedially, flagellum more cylindrical and elongated, without flattened ventral areas; metanotum evenly convex; metasoma with five exposed terga.

Etymology

The genus name is a combination of cret-, from Cretaceous , and Amisega Cameron , the type genus of the subfamily. The name is feminine.

† Cretamisega mandibularis sp. nov.

( Figs 4–6)

ZooBank registration: LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

Description

Holotype female ( DZUP Bur-1679). Body length, ~ 3.6 mm.

Head: Upper limit of eye surpassing dorsal margin of lateral ocellus; inner margin converging gently on upper frons; LID wide, slightly shorter than eye width; ocelli inserted smoothly, without small sulci around them, lateral ocelli closer to inner eye margin and median ocellus than to each other; POL 0.4 × OOL, 0.7 × OL; inner margin of antennal sockets nearly touching; F11 gently acuminate, slightly longer than F10; F2 and F3 distinctly shortened, F1 longer than combined length of F2 + F3; subantennal distance ~1 × MOD, lower medial margin of clypeus evenly convex.

Mesosoma: Lower posterior corner of propleuron smoothly round;anteriorportionofpronotumshorterthanhalfofposterior band, posterior margin without transverse groove; anterobasal margin of procoxa with transverse carina; metabasitarsus lacking two rows of spines.

Metasoma: Lateral margins broadly round, without carina or sharp edge delimiting the lateral fold. Details of the integument (sculpturing, vestiture, and coloration) are not discernible.

Male: See above for sexually dimorphic characters provided in description of the genus.

Etymology

The species is named after the long mandible, characteristic of the female.

Type material

Holotype female in amber piece DZUP Bur-1679. The specimen is well preserved and almost intact. Part of distal flagellomeres of the left antenna is lacking. There are some cracks in the amber piece, blocking most of the frontal view of the head and lateral right of the specimen.

Paratypes: One male in amber piece DZUP Bur-883 ; one male, DZUP Bur-1653; and female, DZUP Bur-1202, syninclusion: a cockroach .

Additional examined material (non-type) One male, DZUP Bur-1867 .

Remarks

The new genus superficially resembles the extant genera Amisega Cameron and Duckeia Costa Lima , based on the short and stout body, simple and round propodeum, lacking marginal carina or groove, round posterolateral corner lacking process, and the general shape of the head (particularly Amisega ). The relatively broadened metanotum is like Duckeia , but in † Cretamisega it is further expanded and depressed laterally. The huge and specialized female mandible of † Cretamisega is unique within the Amiseginae s.l. Additionally, the new genus is readily distinguished from Amisega and Duckeia based on the combination of the following characters: male with strongly modified mandibles (males of Amisega and Duckeia lack dimorphic mandibles); pronotum anteriorly crossed by transverse groove (absent in Amisega and Duckeia ), posterolateral lobe reaching tegula (widely separated from tegula in Duckeia ; faintly separated in Amisega ), and lacking posterolateral and posteromedial pits (with pits in Duckeia ; with only posterolateral pit in Amisega ); notaulus deeply impressed, parallel-sided posteriorly (vaguely indicated in Amisega and Duckeia ); dorsum of propodeum with undifferentiated metapostnotum (disc of dorsal propodeum with distinguishable metapostnotum in Duckeia and Amisega ), and posterior margin simple (delimited posteriorly by transverse groove in Amisega and transverse carina in Duckeia ).