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A New Genus of Crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) in Mid-Cretaceous Myanmar Amber

Abstract

Crickets (Orthoptera: Grylloidea) are a highly diverse and successful group that due to their chirping are often heard more often than they are seen. Their omnivorous diet allows them to exist in a variety of terrestrial habitats around the world. In some environments, cricket populations can build up and become plagues, resulting in significant damage to seedling crops. A new genus and species of cricket, Pherodactylus micromorphus gen. et sp. nov. (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) is described from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber. The new genus is characterized by the following features: head without prominent bristles, pronotum longer than wide, middle of pronotal disk with two distinct large dark “eyespots”, fore leg robust and 3 apical spurs arranged on inner side of fore leg tibia. Shed portions of a lizard skin adjacent to the specimen reveal possible evidence of attempted predation.

Section

References

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How to Cite

Poinar, Jr., G. ., Su, Y. N. ., & Brown, A. E. . (2020). A New Genus of Crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) in Mid-Cretaceous Myanmar Amber. Biosis: Biological Systems, 1(1), 33–38. https://doi.org/10.37819/biosis.001.01.0049

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