Cyllonium are a genus of extinct insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s. It contains two species.

Discovery

Both species of Cyllonium were first described by the English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 entomologist John Obadiah Westwood

John Obadiah Westwood

John Obadiah Westwood was an English entomologist and archaeologist also noted for his artistic talents.Born in Sheffield, he studied to be a lawyer but abandoned that for his scientific interests....

. The fossils were recovered from the Early Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous

The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...

 (Berriasian

Berriasian

In the geological timescale, the Berriasian is an age or stage of the Early or Lower Creteceous. It is the oldest or lowest subdivision in the entire Cretaceous. It spanned between 145.5 ± 4.0 Ma and 140.2 ± 3.0 Ma...

 age) of the Lower Purbeck formation, Durdlestone Bay, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Taxonomy

Very little is known of the two fossils as they were published without description. Illustrations, however, were provided, but even these show that the fossils were fragmentary. They were originally identified to be butterflies

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

, but this is now generally not accepted.

They have been tentatively identified as possible palaeontinids

Palaeontinidae

Palaeontinidae, commonly known as giant cicadas, is an extinct family of cicadomorphs. They existed during the Mesozoic era of Europe, Asia, and South America. The family contains around 30 to 40 genera and around a hundred species.-Discovery:...

 (extinct giant cicada

Cicada

A cicada is an insect of the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha , in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with large eyes wide apart on the head and usually transparent, well-veined wings. There are about 2,500 species of cicada around the world, and many of them remain unclassified...

s) in 1961.

Species

The two species assigned to the genus are the following:Cyllonium boidusvalianum Westwood, 1854Cyllonium hewitsonianum Westwood, 1854