Ovipositor and mouthparts in a fossil insect support a novel ecological role for early orthopterans in 300 million years old forests.

ABSTRACT: A high portion of the earliest known insect fauna is composed of the so-called 'lobeattid insects', whose systematic affinities and role as foliage feeders remain debated. We investigated hundreds of samples of a new lobeattid species from the Xiaheyan locality using a combination of photographic techniques, including reflectance transforming imaging, geometric morphometrics, and biomechanics to document its morphology, and infer its phylogenetic position and ecological role. Ctenoptilus frequens sp. nov. possessed a sword-shaped ovipositor with valves interlocked by two ball-and-socket mechanisms, lacked jumping hind-legs, and certain wing venation features. This combination of characters unambiguously supports lobeattids as stem relatives of all living Orthoptera (crickets, grassh

SUBMITTER: Chen L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8631945 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature