Female sinoalid froghoppers in mid-cretaceous Kachin amber with description of a new genus and species (Hemiptera, Cicadomorpha)

Abstract

Although the extinct hemipteran Sinoalidae is well documented in the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber of northern Myanmar, its adults with female organs preserved remain unknown. We herein report three female sinoalids: two specimens trapped in one amber piece are attributed to Fangyuania xiai, and the third representing the new genus and species Mesolongicapitis peii gen. et sp. nov. The individuals of F. xiai show a considerable variation in length/width ratio of both the crown and the tegmen as well as tegminal cell patterns, but they are assigned to the same species since a similar intra-specific variation has been well documented in Mesozoic Cercopoidea. Mesolongicapitis peii gen. et sp. nov. is remarkably different from all known sinoalids by displaying a series of novel morphological traits, e.g., specialized compound eyes, and the tegmen with an extremely long MP+CuA stalk and an extremely short RA1. Its crown with distinct epicranial suture and anterior arms, and its frons with a median ocellus are similar to those of the Middle to Late Jurassic sinoalids from northeastern China, resembling the basal model of Clypeata. In addition, the three froghoppers reported herein bear a long and ensiform ovipositor just like their Jurassic relatives, indicating a morphological and probable corresponding behavioral stasis.