近日,國際刊物
Journal of Paleontology在線刊登了中科院南京地質古生物研究所等處研究人員的最新研究成果「The First Skiff Beetle (Coleoptera: Myxophaga: Hydroscaphidae) from Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota」,文章中,研究者揭示了最早的藻食亞目甲蟲化石。
藻食亞目是昆蟲綱鞘翅目中較小的一個類群,由於其體型微小(體長短於2毫米),化石很難發現。目前對藻食亞目甲蟲化石僅報導了兩個種,都來自於早白堊世緬甸的琥珀中。
碩士研究生蔡晨陽、黃迪穎研究員和美國堪薩斯大學A. Short博士等在早白堊世熱河生物群(距今約1.25億年)發現了世界上第一塊藻食亞目昆蟲化石,並歸入現生屬Hydroscapha,命名為Hydroscapha. jeholensis(熱河水纓甲)。該新種體型十分接近某些現生代表,但其觸角末端一節保留有3條明顯的融合線易與現生種區分。熱河水纓甲是目前最早的水纓甲科代表,同時也是最早的藻食亞目甲蟲代表。該標本十分微小,長僅1.75毫米,是目前已知最小的甲蟲化石之一。
該標本的發現對水纓甲科昆蟲乃至藻食亞目甲蟲的早期演化和系統發生學研究具有十分重要的意義。(生物谷Bioon.com)
The First Skiff Beetle (Coleoptera: Myxophaga: Hydroscaphidae) from Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota
Chenyang Cai1,, Andrew E. Z. Short2, and Diying Huang1,
The first skiff beetle fossil and earliest myxophagan, Hydroscapha jeholensis n. sp., is described and illustrated on the basis of a single specimen from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation at Huangbanjigou of Beipiao City, Liaoning Province, Northeastern China. Based on the combination of diagnostic characters of this specimen (e.g., minute and fusiform body, short elytra, tapered abdomen, separated meso- and metacoxae, and 3-segmented tarsi), we suggest that it is a definitive representative of Hydroscaphidae belonging to the widespread hydroscaphid genus Hydroscapha LeConte, 1874. It also represents the only impression fossil of the beetle suborder Myxophaga. This find displays great significance for shedding light on the preservation of the minute aquatic beetles, since it is the first well-preserved impression fossil reported for the suborder, rather than amber inclusion.