Gyaclavator kohlsi
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Gyaclavator Temporal range: Latest Ypresian |
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| G. kohlsi holotype | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Family: | Tingidae |
| Genus: | †Gyaclavator |
| Species: | †G. kohlsi |
| Binomial name | |
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Gyaclavator kohlsi Wappler, Guilbert, Wedmann, & Labandeira, 2015 |
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Gyaclavator is an extinct genus of lace bug in the family Tingidae known from a fossil found in North America. The genus contains a single species, Gyaclavator kohlsi.
G. kohlsi was described from a group of fossils, which are compression-impression fossil pairs preserved in layers of soft sedimentary rock. Along with other well preserved insect fossils, the G. kohlsi specimens were collected from layers of the Late Early Eocene Parachute Creek Member of the Green River Formation. The formation is a group of Late Paleocene to Late Eocene depositional basins in Wyoming and Utah. The Parachute Creek Member is a composed of oil shales from the shallow mountain lake, Lake Uinta, that existed for around 20 million years. Study of the paleoflora preserved in the shales indicates the lake was around 1,500–2,900 metres (4,900–9,500 ft) in elevation surrounded by a tropical to subtropical environment that had a distinct dry season.
At the time of study, the holotype and paratype counterpart and parts were part of the paleoentomology collections housed by the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. They were first studied by an international team of researchers headed by Torsten Wappler of the Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Messel pit research station, Germany. The team's 2014 type description of the genus and species was published in the natural sciences journal PLOS One. The generic name is a combination of "Gyas", a Greek giant, and the Latin "clavator" meaning club. The name is a reference to the unique enlarged structuring of the antennae. The specific epithet kohlsi is a patronym coined in honor of David Kohls, for the support he has provided paleontology along with finding and donating the holotype fossil.
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