MIN DA ZERIUS DOMINICANUS NOV. GEN., NOV. SP., 
A FOSSIL APHID (HOMOPTERA, APHIDOIDEA, 
DREPANOSIPHIDAE) FROM DOMINICAN AMBER 
By Ole E. Heie 1 & George O. Poinar, Jr. 2 
Introduction 
A range of animals — insects, spiders, frogs, lizards and mamma- 
lian hair — have been represented in Dominican amber (Poinar & 
Cannatella 1987, Poinar 1988), but until now no aphids. One of us 
(G. O. Poinar) found a single remarkable specimen after sorting 
through some 20,000 pieces. It is placed in a new genus within the 
tribe Lizerini. 
The fossil resembles species of Mindarus Koch, a genus repre- 
sented by more Tertiary than extant species. However, it also shares 
characters with Lizerius Blanchard and Paoliella Theobald, both 
recent, but presumably primitive genera of the family Drepano- 
siphidae. 
The present fossil originated from mines located either in the 
northern or eastern portion of the Dominican Republic. Sedimen- 
tary and geological evidence indicates a range from Upper Eocene to 
Lower Miocene for the amber mines in these regions (Lambert et al. 
1985, Poinar & Cannatella, 1987). Dominican amber originated 
from leguminous trees of the genus Hymenaea (Hueber & Langen- 
heim, 1986). Chemical and physical tests (Poinar 1982) performed 
on the piece verified that it was authentic amber. 
The aphid occurred in a small piece of transparent yellow amber 
with several small air bubbles. Its body and appendages were 
undamaged and easily observed (except for the anterior part of the 
abdominal dorsum, which was covered by parts of the wings and a 
narrow film of air) (Fig. 1). Antennae, wings, and some of the legs 
were stretched out, so that measurements could easily be made. A 
binocular Zeiss-Winkel microscope with a 10X objective was used 
'Institute of Biology, DLH, Emdrupvej 101, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark. 
2 Division of Entomology and Parasitology, University of California, Berkeley, Cali- 
fornia 94720, USA 
Manuscript received by the editor September 6, 1988. 
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