Morphological and behavioral convergence in extinct and extant bugs: the systematics and biology of a new unusual fossil lace bug from the eocene.
The bug Gyaclavator kohlsi Wappler, Guilbert, Wedmann et Labandeira, gen. et sp. nov., represents a new extinct genus of lace bugs (Insecta: Heteroptera: Tingidae) occurring in latest early Eocene deposits of the Green River Formation, from the southern Piceance Basin of Northwestern Colorado, in North America. Gyaclavator can be placed within the Tingidae with certainty, perhaps it is sistergroup to Cantacaderinae. If it belongs to Cantacaderinae, it is the first fossil record of this group for North America. Gyaclavator has unique, conspicuous antennae bearing a specialized, highly dilated distiflagellomere, likely important for intra- or intersex reproductive competition and attraction. This character parallels similar antennae in leaf-footed bugs (Coreidae), and probably is associated with a behavioral convergence as well.
Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt, Forschungsstation Grube Messel, Messel, Germany; Senckenberg Biodiversität und Klima Forschungszentrum (BiK-F), Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Steinmann-Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie, Paläontologie, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Torsten
T
Wappler
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Département de Systématique et Evolution, UMR 7205 CNRS, CP50, Paris, France.
Eric
E
Guilbert
Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America; Department of Entomology and Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States of America; College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
Conrad C
CC
Labandeira
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut für Zoologie & Anthropologie, Abteilung Morphologie & Systematik mit Zoologischem Museum, Göttingen, Germany.
Thomas
T
Hörnschemeyer
Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt, Forschungsstation Grube Messel, Messel, Germany; Senckenberg Biodiversität und Klima Forschungszentrum (BiK-F), Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Sonja
S
Wedmann
D000818:Animals; D003120:Colorado; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005580:Fossils; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D020062:Heteroptera / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification* / Q000502:physiology; D010802:Phylogeny