Tihelka Erik, Engel Michael S, Huang Diying, Cai Chenyang
Department of Animal Science, Hartpury College, Hartpury GL19 3BE, UK.
Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA; Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-4415, USA.
iScience. 2020 Jul 24;23(7):101280. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101280. Epub 2020 Jun 16.
Mimicry is ubiquitous in nature, yet understanding its origin and evolution is complicated by the scarcity of exceptional fossils that enable behavioral inferences about extinct animals. Here we report bizarre true bugs (Hemiptera) that closely resemble beetles (Coleoptera) from mid-Cretaceous amber. The unusual fossil bugs are described as Bersta vampirica gen. et sp. nov. and Bersta coleopteromorpha gen. et sp. nov. and are placed into a new family, Berstidae fam. nov. The specialized mouthparts of berstids indicate that they were predaceous on small arthropods. Their striking beetle-like appearance implies that they were either involved in defensive mimicry or mimicked beetles to attack unsuspecting prey. The latter would represent the first case of aggressive mimicry in the invertebrate fossil record. These findings enrich our understanding of the paleoecological associations and extinct behavioral strategies of Mesozoic insects.
拟态在自然界中无处不在，然而，由于能够对已灭绝动物的行为进行推断的特殊化石稀缺，了解其起源和进化变得很复杂。在这里，我们报告了来自白垩纪中期琥珀的、与甲虫（鞘翅目）极为相似的奇异蝽象（半翅目）。这些不寻常的化石蝽象被描述为吸血鬼伯斯塔蝽（Bersta vampirica gen. et sp. nov.）和鞘翅形伯斯塔蝽（Bersta coleopteromorpha gen. et sp. nov.），并被归入一个新科——伯斯塔蝽科（Berstidae fam. nov.）。伯斯塔蝽独特的口器表明它们以小型节肢动物为食。它们惊人的甲虫般外观意味着它们要么参与了防御性拟态，要么模仿甲虫以攻击毫无防备的猎物。后者将代表无脊椎动物化石记录中攻击性拟态的首例。这些发现丰富了我们对中生代昆虫古生态关联和已灭绝行为策略的理解。
