Abstract
The shore bug subfamily Leptosaldinae is a relict insect group with only one living species recorded in Ecuador and Colombia, but its palaeo-diversity is relatively high, especially in upper Mesozoic amber biotae. Herein, on the basis of an adult shore bug fossil trapped in a mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber piece from northern Myanmar, we describe a new genus and species Cretaleptus popovi gen. et sp. nov., attributed to Leptosaldinae. The new taxon differs from all known living and extinct leptosaldines by possessing a series of unique morphological traits: the head greatly porrect, antennae densely covered with short and slender setae but very long setae absent, with segment II slightly shorter than III and the latter slightly shorter than IV, the pro- and mesonotum tinged with longitudinal stripe in midline, hemelytra darkly pigmented with two distinct light stripes and two speckles, the corium and clavus with three rows of punctures respectively, and membrane with four closed cells. In this study, a key to all leptosaldine genera is also provided. Our find further confirms that this enigmatic leptopodomorph lineage was likely abundant and with high diversity in the late Mesozoic.
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