The first monkey hopper (Orthoptera, Eumastacoidea) from Eocene Baltic amber

2026/06/04 by Ole-Kristian Odin Schall, Martin Husemann, Enrico Bonino · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Coleoptera Taxonomy and Distribution #Fossil Insects in Amber #Orthoptera Research and Taxonomy

paper · pdf · doi:10.3897/jor.35.188742

openalex publication_date 2026/06/04 · openalex created_date 2026/06/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02

Abstract

The first monkey hopper (Orthoptera: Eumastacoidea) from Eocene Baltic amber (ca. 49–44 Ma) is described based on a well-preserved male specimen. Baltoparalethus alessioboninoi gen. et sp. nov . is tentatively assigned to the family Episactidae: subfamily Episactinae. The new taxon extends the age of Episactidae back by about 25 Ma, providing important new insights into their geographic distribution in deep time as well as the evolutionary chronology of Eumastacoidea.

Citations

• A new member of Eumastacoidea (Orthoptera: Caelifera) from Cretaceous Kachin amber suggests possible Gondwanan origin of extant Asian monkey hoppers
• 300 million years of diversification: elucidating the patterns of orthopteran evolution based on comprehensive taxon and gene sampling
• The first Cretaceous Eumastacoidea (Orthoptera, Caelifera) from Burmese amber

Discussions

• Scientists have discovered the first-ever #fossilised monkey #hopper grasshopper from 45-million-year-old Baltic amber. The new species, Baltoparalethus alessioboninoi, pushes back the timeline for it [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

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