Abstract
A new species of one of the basal families among extant Dermaptera, Pygidicranidae, is described from mid-Cretaceous amber of Myanmar based on two females and a male. Astreptolabis laevissp. nov., belongs to the extinct subfamily Astreptolabidinae, sharing the diagnostic combination of features typical of this group, such as the well-developed compound eyes, large pronotum, and straight and tubular cerci. The discovery of a male with its genitalia partly exerted permits characterization of traits for the subfamily and provides further information on the uniqueness and affinities of the subfamily. In addition, the extended hind wing allows for a comparison between the folding mechanism between these fossils and their modern counterparts, demonstrating considerable conservatism in hind wing evolution among Dermaptera.
Highlights
Earwigs are one of the smaller orders of insects and consist of approximately 2000 modern species segregated into 12 families (Engel and Haas 2007; Engel et al 2016)
Many than 1000 species of insects have been reported from Burmese amber (Grimaldi et al 2002; Ross 2019), including termites (Engel et al 2016; Zhao et al 2019), stick insects (Chen et al 2018, 2019), scorpionflies (Lin et al 2019), lots of wasps (Zhang et al 2018), beetles (Cai et al 2018), lacewings (Liu et al 2018), etc.; earwigs are still quite rare compared to most of the other groups
Astreptolabis are the smallest earwigs within Pygidicranidae so far, females being as small as about 3.5 mm in length including cerci
Summary
Earwigs (order Dermaptera) are one of the smaller orders of insects and consist of approximately 2000 modern species segregated into 12 families (Engel and Haas 2007; Engel et al 2016). These are characteristic insects, with their generally flattened appearances, often leathery integument, tegminized forewings, broad fan-shaped hind wings, and, most distinctive of all, the terminal forceps formed of their modified cerci (Grimaldi and Engel 2005). The earliest definitive Neodermaptera are found in the Lower Cretaceous (Engel et al 2002, 2011; Engel and Chatzimanolis 2005; Haas 2007), and there have been 22 taxa described from Cretaceous amber Of these 22 taxa, six are classified in the family Pygidicranidae, including four adults and two nymphs. Based on the new species, the diagnosis of the subfamily is slightly emended to accommodate variations previously unknown
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