We report the discovery of Maculaferrum blaisi gen. et sp. nov, the first occurrence of the family Tettigarctidae, informally
known as hairy cicadas, in North America. Maculaferrum blaisi is part of a new collection assembled during recent
fieldwork in the Redmond Formation, Labrador, Canada, near Schefferville. It consists in a single isolated forewing
whose venational characters allow a classification to Tettigarctinae at the subfamily level. Classification at a higher level
remains uncertain since it displays a combination of characters supposedly unique to tribes Protabanini, Meunierini, and
Tettigarctini. Thus, this discovery adds credence to suggestions of a revision of the definitions of these tribes since they
seem to be based on many convergent or plesiomorphic characters. Remnants of a spotted pattern on the wing membrane
and probable setae along some veins are also preserved. Observations of the holotype’s fine anatomical characters have
been facilitated by the use of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), an emerging method for the visualization of
compression and impression fossils. Considering that the estimated age of the Redmond Formation is the Cenomanian
(Late Cretaceous), the discovery of M. blaisi contributes to a very recent expansion of the tettigarctid fossil record that
fills a gap between Early Cretaceous and Cenozoic genera. It suggests that hairy cicadas maintained a global distribution
and thrived in a variety of climate regimes well into the Late Cretaceous, and that their competitive exclusion by singing
cicadas occurred definitely closer to the end of the Cretaceous, or even during the Cenozoic. This discovery is only the
start of a thorough description of the recently expanded entomofauna in the Cretaceous of Labrador.
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