Drawing the Excalibur bug from the stone: adding credibility to the double-edged sword hypothesis of coreid evolution (Hemiptera, Coreidae)

By

Cumming, Royce
Le Tirant, Stéphane

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1043

Pages

117--131

Subjects

Autotomy , Burmese , Cenomanian , Cretaceous , extinct , fossil , leaf-footed bugs , Mesozoic

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1043.67730

 

Abstract

A new genus and species of exaggerated antennae Coreidae is described from Myanmar amber of the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian stage). Ferriantenna excaliburgen. et sp. nov. appears related to another Cretaceous coreid with exaggerated antennae, Magnusantenna Du & Chen, 2021, but can be differentiated by the fourth antennal segment which is short and paddle-like, the undulating shape of the pronotum and mesonotum, and the shorter and thicker legs. The new coreid, with elaborately formed antennae and simple hind legs instead of the typical extant coreid morphology with simple antennae and elaborately formed hind legs, begs the question: why were the elaborate features of the antennae lost in favor of ornate hind legs? Features that are large and showy are at higher risk of being attacked by predators or stuck in a poor molt and subjected to autotomy and are therefore lost at a higher rate than simple appendages. We hypothesize that because elaborate antennae play an additional significant sensory role compared to elaborate hind legs, that evolutionarily it is more costly to have elaborate antennae versus elaborate hind legs. Thus, through the millenia, as coreid evolution experimented with elaborate/ornate features, those on the antennae were likely selected against in favor of ornate hind legs.