Dear Editor,The Eocene(ca.56–34 million years ago)has become an important time to study due to the global warming at the time(e.g.,Inglis et al.,2020;Agterhuis et al.,2022;Tierney et al.,2022;Setty et al.,2023),hence...Dear Editor,The Eocene(ca.56–34 million years ago)has become an important time to study due to the global warming at the time(e.g.,Inglis et al.,2020;Agterhuis et al.,2022;Tierney et al.,2022;Setty et al.,2023),hence providing a comparison to modern climate change.The Eocene is also well known for spectacular fossils of the group Insecta,with flies,beetles,moths,and all their kin,not least due to exceptional preservation in differ-ent types of ambers,most well known the Baltic am-ber(Janzen,2002;Weitschat&Wichard,2002;Gröhn,2015).展开更多
Mantodea(praying mantises)is a group of exclusively predatory insects,which,together with nonraptorial blattodeans(cockroaches and termites)and groups exclusively found in the fossil record,form the group Dictyoptera....Mantodea(praying mantises)is a group of exclusively predatory insects,which,together with nonraptorial blattodeans(cockroaches and termites)and groups exclusively found in the fossil record,form the group Dictyoptera.A central characteristic of Mantodea is the specialization of their first pair of legs as raptorial grasping appendages,but the evolution from walking to raptorial legs is not yet fully understood.Here,we trace the evolution of the raptorial appendages in Dictyoptera through time using a morphometric(morphospaces)approach.We also describe two new mantodean nymphs preserved in amber from the Cretaceous and Eocene,which expand the scarce mantodean fossil record.Blattodean and mantodean appendages appear distinct in morphospace,but several appendages of fossil non-mantodeans can be considered raptorial,providing a potential transitional link between walking and raptorial morphotypes.Therefore,we discuss potential mantodean affinities for other predatory fossil dictyopterans.We examine changes across extant mantodeans,characterized by a straightening of the tibia especially associated with the rise of the diversification of the Mantidea and discuss whether a thickening of the femur could reflect an early adaptation to cursorial hunting.展开更多
Dear Editor,Hatching is a crucial moment in the life of an animal.The animal stops being an embryo protected by the egg and becomes a post-embryonic immature(see Haug,2020 for difficulties in naming these stages).This...Dear Editor,Hatching is a crucial moment in the life of an animal.The animal stops being an embryo protected by the egg and becomes a post-embryonic immature(see Haug,2020 for difficulties in naming these stages).This must have been the case in the past as well,but the fossil record is rather sparse in the preservation of this very moment.The fossil preservation of such a case needs to facilitate not only preservation of the animal,but also of the egg.As these are often of rather different material,making the preservation of both together in many cases unlikely.Yet,there are preservation types that seem to favor such incidents.Amber has become famous for preserving cases of“frozen behaviour",preserving a specific moment in the life of an animal in an almost life-like manner(Arillo,2007),including:copulations,parasite-host interactions,aggregations,group defense,brood care,egg-laying(although likely stress-induced).展开更多
基金supported by the German Research Foundation(DFG Ha 6300/6-1)and by the Volkswagen Foundation with a Lichtenberg Professorship to JTHVB is supported by the Ministry of Science,Innovation and Universities,Spain,within the Ramon y Cajal Program(RYC2021-032144-I).
文摘Dear Editor,The Eocene(ca.56–34 million years ago)has become an important time to study due to the global warming at the time(e.g.,Inglis et al.,2020;Agterhuis et al.,2022;Tierney et al.,2022;Setty et al.,2023),hence providing a comparison to modern climate change.The Eocene is also well known for spectacular fossils of the group Insecta,with flies,beetles,moths,and all their kin,not least due to exceptional preservation in differ-ent types of ambers,most well known the Baltic am-ber(Janzen,2002;Weitschat&Wichard,2002;Gröhn,2015).
基金support in the frame of a Lichtenberg professorship and the German Research Foundation(DFG HA 6300/6-1)performed at the Imaging Center of the Department of Biology,University of Greifswald(DFG INST 292/119-1 FUGGDFG INST 292/120-1 FUGG).
文摘Mantodea(praying mantises)is a group of exclusively predatory insects,which,together with nonraptorial blattodeans(cockroaches and termites)and groups exclusively found in the fossil record,form the group Dictyoptera.A central characteristic of Mantodea is the specialization of their first pair of legs as raptorial grasping appendages,but the evolution from walking to raptorial legs is not yet fully understood.Here,we trace the evolution of the raptorial appendages in Dictyoptera through time using a morphometric(morphospaces)approach.We also describe two new mantodean nymphs preserved in amber from the Cretaceous and Eocene,which expand the scarce mantodean fossil record.Blattodean and mantodean appendages appear distinct in morphospace,but several appendages of fossil non-mantodeans can be considered raptorial,providing a potential transitional link between walking and raptorial morphotypes.Therefore,we discuss potential mantodean affinities for other predatory fossil dictyopterans.We examine changes across extant mantodeans,characterized by a straightening of the tibia especially associated with the rise of the diversification of the Mantidea and discuss whether a thickening of the femur could reflect an early adaptation to cursorial hunting.
基金Part of the project was supported by the German Research Foundation under DFG Ha 6300/6-1.
文摘Dear Editor,Hatching is a crucial moment in the life of an animal.The animal stops being an embryo protected by the egg and becomes a post-embryonic immature(see Haug,2020 for difficulties in naming these stages).This must have been the case in the past as well,but the fossil record is rather sparse in the preservation of this very moment.The fossil preservation of such a case needs to facilitate not only preservation of the animal,but also of the egg.As these are often of rather different material,making the preservation of both together in many cases unlikely.Yet,there are preservation types that seem to favor such incidents.Amber has become famous for preserving cases of“frozen behaviour",preserving a specific moment in the life of an animal in an almost life-like manner(Arillo,2007),including:copulations,parasite-host interactions,aggregations,group defense,brood care,egg-laying(although likely stress-induced).
