Sexual conflict during Mesozoic: The first Cretaceous damsel bug in Burmese amber (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Nabidae)
Abstract
The oldest Nabidae, Cretanazgul camillei gen. et sp. nov., is described from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber and attributed to the extant subfamily Prostemmatinae. This new record is in accordance with the emergence of the Nabidae between 150 and 130 Ma. This new fossil should help to precise future dating of this family. As the amber area of Myanmar was probably an island of the Thetys Ocean during the mid-Cretaceous, originating from the Gondwana, it is possible that the Nabidae have a Gondwanian origin. Cretanazgul possibly practiced traumatic insemination as all extant Prostemmatinae, but it was not possible to find the male internal organ linked to this behavior in this fossil despite 3D reconstruction with CT-scan data and fluorescence imaging.
- Publication:
-
Cretaceous Research
- Pub Date:
- April 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104344
- Bibcode:
- 2020CrRes.10804344G
- Keywords:
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- Insecta;
- Heteroptera;
- Nabidae;
- Prostemmatinae;
- Traumatic insemination