Elsevier

Cretaceous Research

Volume 139, November 2022, 105308
Cretaceous Research

Short communication
A new genus and species of family Mimarachnidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Fulgoroidae) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, northern Myanmar

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105308Get rights and content

Abstract

A new planthopper genus Tenebricosus gen. nov. from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber with its type species Tenebricosus coriaceus sp. nov. is described in the family Mimarachnidae. The new genus and species is the fourteenth genus and 22nd species of the extinct family Mimarachnidae, which is the most diverse planthopper family among Kachin amber inclusion. This genus can be distinguished from the preciously described genera in tegmen venation, with stem ScP + R shorter than the common stem ScP + R + MP, stem MP with two terminals in margin, costal cell broad and tegmen coriaceous with length/width ratio about 2.4. Diagnostic features of the new genus are briefly discussed.

Introduction

The insect order Hemiptera is subdivided into six suborders including Paleorrhyncha Carpenter, 1931, Sternorrhyncha Amyot et Audinet-Serville, 1843, Fulgoromorpha Evans, 1946, Cicadomorpha Evans, 1946, Coleorrhyncha Myers et China, 1929 and Heteroptera Latreille, 1810. Fulgoroidea is one of the three superfamilies (i.e. Fulgoroidea Latreille, 1807, Coleoscytoidea Martynov, 1935 and Surijokocixioidea Shcherbakov, 2000) of Fulgoromorpha (commonly known as planthoppers), and represent one of the main groups with high diversity among hemipterans (Bartlett et al., 2018; Szwedo, 2018). Thirty-four families including thirteen extinct families have been recorded by far in the superfamily Fulgoroidea, of which the fossil record can be dated back to the Triassic (Szwedo and Żyła, 2009; Szwedo, 2018; Bourgoin, 2022; Zhang, et al., 2021). Most of the Fulgoroidea extinct families are Cretaceous: Lalacidae Hamilton, 1990, Neazoniidae Szwedo, 2007, Perforissidae Shcherbakov, 2007a, Mimarachnidae Shcherbakov, 2007b, Dorytocidae Emeljanov et Shcherbakov, 2018, Jubisentidae Zhang, Ren et Yao, 2019, Yetkhatidae Song, Szwedo et Bourgoin, 2019, Katlasidae Luo, Jiang et Szwedo, 2020 and Inoderbidae Shcherbakov et Emeljanov, 2021. Eleven planthopper families have been observed in Kachin ambers, including extant families Achilidae Stål, 1866, Cixiidae Spinola, 1839, Derbidae Spinola, 1839, and extinct ones Dorytocidae Emeljanov & Shcherbakov, 2018, Inoderbidae Shcherbakov et Emeljanov, 2021, Jubisentidae Zhang, Ren et Yao, 2019, Katlasidae Luo, Jiang et Szwedo, 2020, Mimarachnidae Shcherbakov, 2007b, Perforissidae Shcherbakov, 2007a, and Yetkhatidae Song, Szwedo et Bourgoin, 2019 (Song et al., 2019; Luo et al., 2020a).

Among them, families Mimarachnidae is the most diverse one with 13 genera and 21 species already described including Mimamontsecia cretacea Szwedo and Ansorge, 2015 and Chalicoridulum montsecensis Szwedo and Ansorge, 2015 from the Lower Cretaceous (lower Barremian) of north-eastern Spain; Saltissus fennahi Luo, Liu et Jarzembowski, 2021 from Lower Cretaceous (lower Barremian) of Smokejacks Brickworks, southern England, Mimarachne mikhailovi Shcherbakov, 2007b and Saltissus eskovi Shcherbakov, 2007b from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Zaza Formation of Baissa, Buryatia in Russia; Nipponoridium matsuoi (Fujiyama, 1978) from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Kuwajima Formation, Kaseki-kabe, Hakusan City, Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan (Fujiyama, 1978; Szwedo, 2008); 8 genera and 15 species from Upper Cretaceous (lowermost Cenomanian; 98.79 ± 0.62 Ma) Kachin amber of northern Myanmar: Burmissus latimaculatus Fu et Huang, 2020, Burmissus raunoi Shcherbakov, 2017, Burmissus szwedoi Luo et al., 2020, Dachibangus hui Zhang, Yao et Pang 2021, Dachibangus formosus Fu et al., 2019, Dachibangus trimaculatus Jiang et al., 2018, Jaculistilus oligotrichus Zhang et al., 2018, Mimaplax ekrypsan Jiang et al., 2019, Ayaimatum minutum Fu et Huang, 2021, Ayaimatum trilobatum Jiang et Szwedo, 2020, Cretodorus rostellatus Zhang, Yao et Pang, 2021, Cretodorus angustus Fu et Huang, 2020, Cretodorus granulatus Fu et Huang, 2020, Mimaeurypterus burmiticus Fu et Huang, 2021 and Multistria orthotropa Zhang, Yao et Pang 2021 (Luo et al., 2021) (Fig. 1).

Here we present a new genus and species of this family, Tenebricosus coriaceus gen. et sp. nov., based on a specimen from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber.

Section snippets

Material and method

The specimen studied here is a piece of amber from the Cretaceous deposits in the Hukawng Valley of Kachin State, northern Myanmar (locality: Noije Bum; 26°21′33.41″N, 96°43′11.88″ E; palaeocoordinates 12.4° N, 93.8° E; see figure 1 in Jiang et al. (2018)) (Kania et al., 2015; Thu and Zaw, 2017). As the southward extension of the Tibetan orogeny, Myanmar lies south to the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, and is suggested to be subdivided into three major tectonic zones: the Indo-Burma range, the

Systematic paleontology

  • Order Hemiptera Linnaeus, 1758

  • Infraorder Fulgoromorpha Evans, 1946

  • Superfamily Fulgoroidea Latreille, 1807

  • Family Mimarachnidae Shcherbakov, 2007b

  • Genus Tenebricosus gen. nov., He, Jiang & Szwedo

  • LSID:urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:651B1256-6AB6-4920-97DB-05132087AB71

  • Type species: Tenebricosus coriaceus He, Jiang et Szwedo, sp. nov.; by present designation.

  • Etymology. Generic name is derived from a Latin adjective “tenebricōsus” meaning “full of darkness or gloom, shrouded in darkness, dark, gloomy”,

Discussion

Mimarachnidae was first described by Shcherbakov (2007b) based on two impression specimens and it was described as spider mimic planthopper with eyespot coloration and dark appearance. With more taxa founded in this family, different unique morphological features and peculiarities have been described beside the spider mimicry, such as giant size, elongated head, flatoidinisation syndrome, and a rostrum that exceeds the length of the body, indicating high taxonomic diversity and morphological

Conclusion

The described above new fossil planthopper Tenebricosus coriaceus gen. et sp. nov. is 14th genus and 22nd species ascribed to extinct family Mimarachnidae. This finding adds novel morphological information on the group, new data to palaeoecological and palaeobehavioral interpretation of these insects and their paleohabitats, and provides new data about the taphocoenosis of the Kachin amber inclusions.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42072001, 41930218, 41790452), Capacity Building for Sci-Tech Innovation Fundamental Scientific Research Funds of CUGB (No. 35832020064). JS thanks the Chinese Academy of Sciences for support under the President's International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI No. 2021VCA0009). The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions for improving the quality of the paper.

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