2025/07/17 by Xia Ji, André Nel, Chuantao Xiao +4 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Fossil Insects in Amber #Orthoptera Research and Taxonomy #Plant and animal studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.3897/fr.28.162805
openalex publication_date 2025/07/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Gryllidea, one of the most species-rich groups in Orthoptera, are characterized by relatively scarce fossil records until the K-Pg extinction. This study describes a unique Mesozoic cricket, Fortigryllus xiangrui gen. et sp. nov. , based on a well-preserved specimen from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber in northern Myanmar. It exhibits very peculiar morphologies including fore-, mid-, and hindlegs nearly equal in robustness, and exceptionally stout femora in all three pairs of legs. Although it has some putative synapomorphies with the Phalangopsidae, the lack of information on the genital characters forbid us to accurately attribute it to a precise family. Crawling is tentatively proposed as a mode of locomotion in this Mesozoic cricket. This new find reveals a novel morphology in Cretaceous crickets and suggests a great potential biodiversity of crickets in this mid-Cretaceous ecosystem.