Stick insect in Burmese amber reveals an early evolution of lateral lamellae in the Mesozoic.

ABSTRACT: Extant stick and leaf insects commonly imitate twigs or leaves, with lateral lamellae used to enhance crypsis or achieve mimicry for protection. However, the origin and early evolution of such lateral expansions among Phasmatodea are unknown, because all known Mesozoic phasmatodeans hitherto lack preserved evidence of such structures. We report here the first Mesozoic stick insect, Elasmophasma stictum gen. et sp. nov., with well-preserved, thin, lateral lamellae on the thoracic pleura, the terga of abdominal segments I-X and the ventrolateral margins of all femora. This new species, from the mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar, has a clear, stick-like body and is assigned to Euphasmatodea. The abdominal structures of E. stictum exhibit traces of multiple expansions of the terga, sugg

SUBMITTER: Chen S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5936735 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature