Paleoleishmania

Paleoleishmania is an extinct genus of kinetoplastid (class Kinetoplastida), a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa and at present it's placed in kinetoplastid family Trypanosomatidae. The genus contains two species, Paleoleishmania neotropicum and the type species Paleoleishmania proterus.

The genus is known from the Albian aged,Burmese amber deposits of northern Myanmar and the Burdigalian aged Dominican amber deposits on the island of Hispaniola.

The genus name Paleoleishmania is derived from the Greek paleo meaning "old" and leishmania referencing the modern Leishmaniasis-causing genus Leishmania. All trypanosomes are heteroxenous (requiring more than one obligatory host in order to complete life cycle) or are transmitted through some variation of a vector.

The genus was described in 2004 by George Poinar, Jr. and Robert Poinar in the journal Protist from amastigotes, promastigotes and paramastigotes preserved with a blood engorged female sandfly preserved in amber. The species was named Paleoleishmania proterus and the genus was erected for fossil digenetic trypanosomes. P. proterus was the first kinetoplastid to be described from the fossil record.