College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China.
Natural History Museum of Denmark, SCIENCE, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Cladistics. 2024 Oct;40(5):526-537. doi: 10.1111/cla.12579. Epub 2024 May 7.
Insects have evolved complex sensory systems that are important for feeding, defence and reproduction. Parasitoid wasps often spend much time and effort in searching for concealed hosts with the help of specialized sensilla. However, the early evolution of such behaviour and sensilla is poorly known. We describe two fossil female wasps, †Tichostephanus kachinensis sp. nov. and †Tichostephanus longus sp. nov., from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. Phylogenetic analyses based on morphological data retrieved †Tichostephanus as deeply nested within Evanioidea and closely related to extant Gasteruptiidae and Evaniidae. Both of these Cretaceous wasps possess features, e.g. coronal tubercles and flexible ovipositor sheaths, that indicate that they might have laid eggs in wood where their larvae possibly parasitized insect larvae. They have a peculiar and unique 'bottle brush' of sensilla close to the apex of their ovipositor sheaths, which has not been observed in any extant parasitoid wasps. These sensilla comprise many regularly arranged plate-shaped setae, attached in relatively large sockets and with rows of longitudinal ridges. Such specialized sensilla perhaps served to enhance the ability to detect hosts inside wood.
昆虫进化出了复杂的感觉系统，这些系统对于它们的进食、防御和繁殖至关重要。寄生蜂经常会借助专门的感器来花费大量的时间和精力寻找隐蔽的宿主。然而，这种行为和感器的早期进化还知之甚少。我们描述了两种来自白垩纪中期缅甸琥珀的雌性黄蜂化石，†Tichostephanus kachinensis sp. nov. 和 †Tichostephanus longus sp. nov.。基于形态数据的系统发育分析表明，†Tichostephanus 在 Evanioidea 中处于深嵌位置，与现存的 Gasteruptiidae 和 Evaniidae 密切相关。这两种白垩纪黄蜂都具有冠状结节和灵活的产卵器鞘等特征，这表明它们可能在木头中产卵，其幼虫可能会寄生在木头中的昆虫幼虫上。它们的产卵器鞘的顶端附近有一个独特的“瓶刷”状感器，这在任何现存的寄生蜂中都没有观察到。这些感器由许多规则排列的片状刚毛组成，附着在相对较大的窝中，并带有纵向脊的行。这种特殊的感器也许可以提高在木头中探测宿主的能力。
