Alienopterus

Alienopterus brachyelytrus
Temporal range: Cenomanian 99 Ma
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Alienoptera
Family: Alienopteridae
Genus: Alienopterus
Bai, Beutel, Klass,Wipfler and Zhang, 2016
Species: A. brachyelytrus
Binomial name
Alienopterus brachyelytrus
Bai, Beutel, Klass, Wipfler and Zhang, 2016

Alienopterus brachyelytrus is an extinct insect described from a 99 million year old fossil found in amber from the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar. It is the only member of the order "Alienoptera," and has characters that are shared with cockroaches and mantids and is thought to represent either the sister taxon, or an ancestor to mantids.[1]

Alienopterus has shortened forewings and functional hindwings capable of flight that are attached to pads as in the Mantophasmatodea. The foreleg has a femoral brush which is a characteristic of Mantodea. The mouth points downward from the body axis and has biting mouthparts suggestive of a predator. The antenna is long and there are large compound eyes as well as three ocelli on the head (which is never found in the Blattodea).[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Bai, Ming; Beutel, Rolf Georg; Klass, Klaus-Dieter; Zhang, Weiwei; Yang, Xingke; Wipfler, Benjamin (2016). "†Alienoptera — A new insect order in the roach–mantodean twilight zone". Gondwana Research. 39: 317. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2016.02.002.

See also

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