Cyllonium

Cyllonium Temporal range: Berriasian PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
File:Cyllonium boidusvalianum.jpg
Cyllonium boidusvalianum
File:Cyllonium hewitsonianum.jpg
Cyllonium hewitsonianum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Genus:	†Cyllonium Westwood, 1854
Species
See text.

Cyllonium are a genus of extinct insects. It contains two species.

Discovery

Both species of Cyllonium were first described by the English entomologist John Obadiah Westwood. The fossils were recovered from the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian age) of the Lower Purbeck formation, Durdlestone Bay, England.

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, but this is now generally not accepted.

They have been tentatively identified as possible palaeontinids (extinct giant cicadas) in 1961.

Species

The two species assigned to the genus are the following:

• †Cyllonium boidusvalianum Westwood, 1854
• †Cyllonium hewitsonianum Westwood, 1854

See also

• Cicadomorpha
• Prehistoric insects
• Prehistoric Lepidoptera