Short communicationA diminutive elcanid from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, Ellca nevelka gen. et sp. nov., and the function of metatibial spurs in Elcanidae (Orthoptera)
Introduction
Elcanidae is an enigmatic family of Mesozoic orthopterans that differ from other Orthoptera in having large movable spurs on the dorsal surface of the hind tibia. Gorochov (1995) and Gorochov et al. (2006) considered elcanids to be the basal clade of the Ensifera, although their forewing venation is similar to that of the Caelifera (Béthoux and Nel, 2002). Gorochov et Rasnitsyn (2002) hypothesized that this clade could be a sister group of all other Orthoptera, but the phylogenetic position of Elcanidae remains unresolved (e.g., Peñalver and Grimaldi, 2010; Tian et al., 2019).
Gorochov et al. (2006) divided Elcanidae into two subfamilies: Elcaninae Handlirsch, 1906 and Archelcaninae Gorochov et al., 2006. Elcanidae currently comprises 53 species in 15 genera (Heads et al., 2018), and elcanid specimens have been reported from several fossil deposits in Europe, Asia, and South America. They first appear in the fossil records from the Triassic, and they disappear at the end of the Cretaceous (Sharov, 1968; Gorochov et al., 2006; Peñalver and Grimaldi, 2010; Fang et al., 2018b). Only a few fossils have been found in Cretaceous Burmese or Spanish amber (Poinar et al., 2007; Peñalver and Grimaldi, 2010). In mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, four species (in three genera) of Elcanidae have been previously described: Longioculus burmensis Poinar et al. 2007, Burmelcana longirostris Peñalver and Grimaldi, 2010, Burmelcana sp. (Fang et al., 2015), and Elcanonympha diana Heads et al., 2018.
The current report describes a new genus and species from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. The fossil's forewing venation is fully described.
Section snippets
Material and methods
The studied material is preserved in fossil resin originally produced by representatives of the tree family Araucariaceae (Poinar et al., 2007). The piece of amber was found in a mining locality near Tanai Village (26°21′N, 96°43″E) in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar (Grimaldi et al., 2002; Cruickshank and Ko, 2003; for location map see e.g.: Dong et al., 2015), but the precise mining site is unknown due to mixing of samples obtained from the local miners. The deposits in Tanai Village have been
Systematic palaeontology
Order Orthoptera Olivier, 1789
Superfamily Elcanoidea Handlirsch, 1906
Family Elcanidae Handlirsch, 1906
Composition:
Elcaninae Handlirsch, 1906; Archelcaninae Gorochov, Jarzembowski, Coram, 2006; species insertae sedis: Burmelcana Penalver and Grimaldi, 2010; Cascadelcana Fang et al., 2018b; Elcanonympha Heads et al., 2018; Elcanopsis Tillyard, 1918; Longioculus Poinar et al., 2007; Macrelcana Karny, 1932.
Stratigraphic range: Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous.
Subfamily Elcaninae Handlirsch, 1906.
Discussion
On the basis of the large spines on the hind tibiae, long antennae, laterally flat enlarged ovipositor and characteristic wing venation, Ellca gen. nov. belongs to family Elcanidae, and it is attributed to Elcaninae based on the following combination of character states: (1) area between RA and RP is relatively narrow and nearly parallel-sided; (2) CuPb and CuPaβ are distally fused; and (3) spurs on the hind tibiae are smaller and needle-like. Ellca gen. nov. differs from all described genera
Conclusion
Ellca nevelka gen. et sp. nov. (Orthoptera: Elcanidae: Elcaninae) is described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. In the fossil, both the body and forewings are exceptionally well preserved, which enabled classification to the subfamily level and which refined the taxonomic characters associated with the Elcaninae. The new species has a large pterostigma on the forewings, which suggests that this species could use both pairs of wings for active flight. Because a pterostigma has not been
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by European Union structural funding Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation, project No. CZ.1.05/2.1.00/19.0388, and by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic in the “National Feasibility Program I”, project LO1208 “TEWEP”. I thank Pawel Jaloszynski (Wrocław, Poland) for help with identifying the other organisms in the amber. I would like to thank Bruce Jaffee (University of California at Davis, Davis, CA,
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2022, Cretaceous ResearchCitation Excerpt :Based on these unique anatomical morphologies (Table 1), compared to other Elcanid species, the two genera (Hukawnelca and Caelielca) have been characterized as members of the family Elcanidae. Both the metatibiae and forewings were well preserved in the two new genera of the present study, and showed the detailed taxonomic characteristics associated with the Elcanidae (cf. Kočárek, 2020). The metatibial spurs of Elcanidae exhibit great morphological diversity.
The first orthopteran fossils from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Jinju Formation of Korea: ethological implications for elcanids
2021, Cretaceous ResearchCitation Excerpt :Fang et al.(2018b) considered the coloured area between RA and the wing margin, filled with crossveins in Cascadelcana virginiana Fang et al., 2018 and Panorpidium yixianensis Fang et al., 2015 as pterostigma, while Kočárek (2020) reported the presence of a seemingly true pterostigma in Ellca nevelka Kočárek, 2020 without crossvein in it. Fang et al. (2018b) and Kočárek (2020) further suggested that the presence of pterostigma structure in elcanids may have been related to a unique flight mechanism distinct from other extant orthopterans: e.g., Fang et al. (2018b) proposed a gliding mode for elanid flight. The pterostigma-like structure of Panorpidium spica sp. nov. has numerous cross-veins in it, which is similar to other elnacids except Ellca nevelka.