A unique camouflaged mimarachnid planthopper from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber.

ABSTRACT: Predation is a major driving force for the evolution of functional forms. Avoidance of visual predators has resulted in different kinds of anti-predator defences, such as: camouflage, crypsis, disruptive coloration, and masquerade or mimesis. Camouflage is one of the forms involving shape, colouration, structure and behaviour when the visual pattern and orientation of an animal can determine whether it lives or dies. Inferring the behaviour and function of an ancient organism from its fossilised remains is a difficult task, but in many cases it closely resembles that of its descendants on uniformitarian grounds. Here we report and discuss examples of morphological and behavioural traits involving camouflage named recently as a flatoidinisation syndrome, shown by the inclusion of a planthop

SUBMITTER: Jiang T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6739471 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature