Paleoleishmania
| Paleoleishmania Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Paleolishmania proterus in the gut of the Cretaceous sand fly Palaeomyia burmitis | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Phylum: | Euglenozoa |
| Class: | Kinetoplastea |
| Order: | Trypanosomatida |
| Family: | Trypanosomatidae |
| Genus: | †Paleoleishmania Poinar & Poinar 2004 |
| Type species | |
| Paleoleishmania proterus Poinar & Poinar 2004
| |
| Species | |
| |
Paleoleishmania is an
Trypanosomatidae. The genus contains two species, the type species Paleoleishmania proterus and the later described Paleoleishmania neotropicum.[2]
The genus is known from the Albian aged[3] Burmese amber deposits of northern Myanmar and the Burdigalian[4] aged Dominican amber deposits on the island of Hispaniola.[2]
Etymology
The genus name Paleoleishmania is derived from the
vector.[citation needed
]
Paleoleishmania proterus
The genus was described in 2004 by
trypanosomes. P. proterus was the first kinetoplastid to be described from the fossil record.[citation needed
]
Paleoleishmania neotropicum
Paleoleishmania neotropicum is known solely from the
rain forests.[2]
The morphology of the compact
µm and their presence in the fly indicates the digenetic nature of the species. That the species is digenetic excludes the Blastocrithidia as a possible genus placement for the species, while Endotrypanum is specific to sloths which are not known on Hispaniola past the Quaternary. The genus Phytomonas is excluded due to it being exclusively found in hemipterans.[2] The paramastigotes range in size from 6 to 10 µm which is within the range for modern Leishmania species. There are several possible origins for the paramastigotes preserved in the proboscis. They probably developed within the proboscis from an earlier meal of the fly, however they may have been "infective promastigotes" which occur naturally in the mouthparts of some Lutzomyia species.[2] Though they are currently placed in the same genus, Dr. Poinar notes the likelihood that the two species arose interdependently from each other. It is possible P. neotropicum is the ancestor of one or more Neotropical Leishmania clades.[2]