Eophyllium messelensis
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| Eophyllium messelensis |
Eophyllium messelensis is an extinct Phasmatodea insect that is an ancestor of modern Phylliidae, insects that mimic the shape of leaves for camouflage.
A full body fossil of E. messelensis was recovered from a 47 million year old fossil lakebed in Germany. The 6 centimeter (2.4 in) long fossil has a body that is identical in shape to fossil leaves recovered from the same strata.
The genitalia of the fossil are nearly identical to those of modern leaf insects, indicating that the species has changed little over the millennia. One area in which E. messelensis differs from its modern descendents is in its front legs which don't have flattened, leaf-like projections that modern leaf insects use to cover their heads.
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[edit] References
- Wedmann, Sonja; Bradler, Sven; Rust, Jes (9 January 2007). "The first fossil leaf insect: 47 million years of specialized cryptic morphology and behavior". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104 (2): 565-9. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0606937104. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
