Fibla carpenteri is an extinct species of snakefly

Snakefly

Snakeflies are a group of insects in the order Raphidioptera, consisting of about 210 extant species. Together with the Megaloptera they were formerly placed within the Neuroptera, but now these two are generally regarded as separate orders....

 in the Inocelliidae

Inocelliidae

Inocelliidae is a small family of snakeflies containing 8 genera of which one is known only from fossils. They are commonly known as inocelliid snakeflies...

 genus Fibla. F. carpenteri is named in honor of the paleoentomologist Dr Frank Carpenter

Frank M. Carpenter

Frank M. Carpenter received his PhD from Harvard University, and was curator of fossil insects at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology for 60 years. He studied the Permian fossil insects of Elmo, Kansas, and compared the North American fossil insect fauna with Paleozoic taxa known from...

, for his vast knowledge and interest in Raphidioptera.

The species is known from a single specimen, the holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

, deposited in the Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, Museum of Comparative Zoology as specimen #9999. Dr. Michael S. Engel

Michael S. Engel

Michael S. Engel is an American paleontologist and entomologist. He has undertaken field work in Central Asia, Asia Minor, and the Western Hemisphere, and published more than 300 papers in scientific journals. He was trained at the University of Kansas where in 1993 he received a B.S. in Cellular...

 first studied and described the species after finding the specimen in the Harvard collections. He published his type description in the journal Psyche

Psyche (entomological journal)

Psyche is a scientific journal of entomology which was established in 1874 by the Cambridge Entomological Club as a "journal for the publication of biological contributions upon Arthropoda from any competent person"....

volume 102 published in 1995. Fairly well preserved in Eocene

Eocene

The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...

 Baltic amber

Baltic amber

The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite, with about 80% of the world's known amber found there. It dates from 44 million years ago...

, the female individual has a torn forewing missing the distal portion, partial antennae, and the ovipositor

Ovipositor

The ovipositor is an organ used by some animals for oviposition, i.e., the laying of eggs. It consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages formed to transmit the egg, to prepare a place for it, and to place it properly...

 is severed and missing the tip. There are also a number of small areas with "schimmel", a type of white mold sometimes present on arthropods in amber. With a total length, not including ovipositor or antennae, of just over 18 millimetre (0.708661417322835 in), Fibla carpenteri is the largest species of snakefly from amber and the largest species of the genus. As a whole the female shows no light color marking and was a fairly uniform dark brown to black coloration. The wings are hyaline

Hyaline

The term hyaline denotes a substance with a glass-like appearance.-Histopathology:In histopathological medical usage, a hyaline substance appears glassy and pink after being stained with haematoxylin and eosin — usually it is an acellular, proteinaceous material...

 with brown coloration of the vein structure and are slightly fuscous at the base. The pterostigma

Pterostigma

The pterostigma is a cell in the outer wing of insects which is often thickened or coloured and so stands out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonflies, but present also in other insect groups, such as snakeflies, hymenopterans and megalopterans.The purpose of the pterostigma,...

 is also colored brown.

F. carpenteri is one of only four extinct Fibla which are known from the fossil record. Along with F. erigena F. carpenteri is one of two known from the baltic amber deposits, while F. cerdanica is from the Miocene of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and F. exusta is from the Eocene of the Florissant Formation

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is a United States National Monument in Teller County, Colorado, that is noted for its fossils. It is located in a mountain valley just west of Pikes Peak and holds spectacular remnants of prehistoric life...

, Colorado.