Vetufebrus is an extinct genus of haemospororida in the family Plasmodiidae. At the time of its description the new genus comprised a single species Vetufebrus ovatus known from a single Miocene Dominican amber fossil found on Hispaniola. V. ovatus was vectored by Enischnomyia stegosoma, the first fossil streblid bat fly described from a fossil, and the only member of the subfamily Nycterophiliinae described from Hispaniola. V. ovatus is the first instance of a Streblidae bat fly as a host for a malarial parasite.
Vetufebrus ovatus was described based on a group of fossilized specimens which are preserved as in the host batfly, itself an inclusion in a transparent chunk of Dominican amber.[1][2] The amber is fossil resin that was produced by the extinct Hymenaea protera, which formerly grew on Hispaniola, across northern South America and up to southern Mexico. The amber dates from the Burdigalian stage (20.43 ± 0.05 to 15.97 ± 0.05 million years ago) of the Miocene, and is recovered from sections of the La Toca Formation in the Cordillera Septentrional and the Yanigua Formation in the Cordillera Oriental.[3][4] The amber specimen was collected from the LaBúcara amber mine in the Dominican Republic.[2]
At the time of description, the holotype specimen, number "No. D-7-239", was preserved in the Poinar Amber collections, housed at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. The holotype fossil was first studied by entomologist George Poinar Jr. of Oregon State University with his 2011 type description of the new genus and species being published in the journal Parasites & Vectors. The genus name, Vetufebrus was derived from a combination of the Latin words vetus meaning "old" and febris meaning "fever". The specific epithet ovatus was coined from the Latin word ovatus meaning "ovate", an allusion to the shape of the oocysts.[1]
Extant bat malaria causing plasmodiids are transmitted by species of the bat fly family Nycteribiidae, with no recorded association between living malaria plasmodiids and streblid bat flies. Of the four genera of bat malaria Hepatocystis, Nycteria, Plasmodium, and Polychromophilus, the first three are confined to old world bats, and only Polychromophilus is present in the new world. Vetufebrus ovatus oocysts are preserved in the mid gut of Enischnomyia stegosoma[5] and sporozoites are present in the oocysts along with in the salivary ducts.[5] The sporozoites preserved in the salivary glands and ducts are similar in size to those in the oocysts, which indicate that V. ovatus was successfully vectored to the flies host.[1] The infection association was the first instance of a Streblidae family bat fly acting as host and vector for a malarial parasite.[1] The oocysts of V. ovatus are smaller and ovoid in shape while mature Polychromophilus species oocysts are rounded and larger overall. Poinar notes that the oocysts in V. ovatus might have been immature, and the sporozoites in the salivary ducts could have been left from a prior infection. The overall sporozoite morphology is similar to those of Polychromophilus species, suggesting the possibility of Vetufebrus being an early lineage for Polychromophilus, though the oocysts are not consistent.[1]