Abstract
Behavior of extinct organisms can be inferred only indirectly, but occasionally rare fossils document particular behaviors directly. Brood care, a remarkable behavior promoting the survival of the next generation, has evolved independently numerous times among animals including insects. However, fossil evidence of such a complex behavior is exceptionally scarce. Here, we report an ensign scale insect (Hemiptera: Ortheziidae), Wathondara kotejai gen. et sp. nov., from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, which preserves eggs within a wax ovisac, and several freshly hatched nymphs. The new fossil is the only Mesozoic record of an adult female scale insect. More importantly, our finding represents the earliest unequivocal direct evidence of brood care in the insect fossil record and demonstrates a remarkably conserved egg-brooding reproductive strategy within scale insects in stasis for nearly 100 million years.
Highlights
Brood care is an altruistic trait that evolved to enhance the fitness of offspring at a cost to the parents and represents a breakthrough in the adaptation of organisms to their environment (Tallamy, 1984; CluttonBrock, 1991; Gilbert and Manica, 2010)
We report on an exceptionally preserved insect from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, which represents the earliest unequivocal direct evidence of brood care in the insect fossil record and sheds new light on the early evolution of such behavior
In living relatives of W. kotejai, females use a similar wax coating to protect themselves and their offspring: young nymphs hatch inside the egg sac and remain there for a few days before emerging into the outside world. This new fossil provides a unique insight into the anatomy and life cycle of a long-extinct insect; it demonstrates that brood care in insects is an ancient trait that dates back to at least around 100 million years ago at the height of the age of the dinosaurs
Summary
Brood care is an altruistic trait that evolved to enhance the fitness of offspring at a cost to the parents and represents a breakthrough in the adaptation of organisms to their environment (Tallamy, 1984; CluttonBrock, 1991; Gilbert and Manica, 2010). Fossil evidence of such an ephemeral behavior is extremely rare, reported mainly in dinosaurs (Meng et al, 2004; Varricchio et al, 2008), ostracods (Siveter et al, 2007, 2014), arachnids (Engel and Grimaldi, 2014), but rarely in insects. We report on an exceptionally preserved insect from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, which represents the earliest unequivocal direct evidence of brood care in the insect fossil record and sheds new light on the early evolution of such behavior
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