Tytthodiplatys Engel

Engel, Michael S., 2011, New earwigs in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Dermaptera, Neodermaptera), ZooKeys 130, pp. 137-152 : 138-140

Tytthodiplatys Engel gen. n.

Type species.

Tytthodiplatys mecynocercus Engel, sp. n.

Diagnosis.

Minute earwigs (ca. 1.9 mm in length excluding cerci), with eight antennomeres (groundplan condition for first instars of Neodermaptera ). Body do rsoventrally compressed (Fig. 2), with sparsely scattered setae, not chaetulose; integument dull and matt. Head prognathous, slightly broader than long (estimated as direct dorsal view of specimen not possible: Fig. 2), somewhat tumid, posterior angles rounded, posterior border relatively straight, rounded (not truncate or concave); compound eyes well developed, somewhat prominent, separated from posterior border of head by slightly more than compound eye diameter; ocelli absent; antenna with eight articles, scape relatively slender, pedicel short, subquadrate, very slightly wider than long, meriston longer than other flagellomeres; mouthparts typical for Dermaptera (e.g., Waller et al. 1996). Pronotum and mesonotum roughly subquadrate, slightly narrower than head, with anterior and posterior angles acutely rounded, lateral borders weakly convex, all borders ecarinate; pronotal median longitudinal furrow (= sutura pronotalis longitudinalis) not evident; metanotum broader than maximum length, anterior border straight, lateral borders ecarinate and diverging posteriorly, posterior border broadly concave. Legs not greatly elongate; procoxae apparently near posterior border of prosternum; femora not carinulate or compressed; tibiae relatively short, about as long as tarsi; tarsi trimerous, second tarsomere greatly shortened, not widened apically, scarcely extending apically beneath third tarsomere; pretarsal ungues simple, arolium absent. Abdominal terga sculptured as on thoracic nota; segments transverse, apicalmost segment much smaller than penultimate segment; cerci greatly elongate, about as long as combined lengths of abdomen and thorax, filamentous, annulated (as in nymphs of Diplatyidae and Karschiellidae ) (Fig. 2), with bases broadly separated.

Etymology.

The new genus-group name is a combination of the Greek word tytthos, meaning “small” or “young”, and Diplatys , type genus of the family (itself a combination of the Greek words di and platys, meaning “two” and “broad”, respectively). The name is masculine.