Kóbor Péter, Szabó Márton
Department of Zoology, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research Plant Protection Institute, Martonvásár, 2462, Hungary.
Department of Palaeontology and Geology, Hungarian National Museum Public Collection Centre - Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, 1082, Hungary.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 19;15(1):30282. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-15559-8.
The phenomenon of flower visiting (anthophily) and the pollination, though becoming prevalent with the rise of flowering angiosperms, hypothesized to have originated from the antagonistic relationship of florivory between insects and gymnosperms in the Upper Jurassic. Though not commonly known, this behaviour has been documented in several instances among the representatives of the suborder Heteroptera, i.e., the true bugs. Here, we describe Shaykayatcoris michalskii gen. nov., sp. nov., the first known representative of the plesiomorphic flat bug (Aradidae) subfamily Prosympiestinae in the Upper Cretaceous Burma Terrane amber fauna (Lowermost Cenomanian, ca. 99 Mya). Besides expanding the knowledge on the heteropteran insect fauna of the Lagerstätte, the discovery of this new true bug provides intriguing insights into the evolutionary history of true bugs. First, the new record corroborates that the subfamily Prosympiestinae is a Gondwanan relict group among the representatives of flat bugs. Second, this insect presents the first known incidence of iridescent colouration in flat bugs with a tentative role of camouflage, suggesting a more exposed lifestyle compared to the apomorphic lineages of flat bugs, which have adapted to live under tree bark. Third, the iridescence and the high amount of pollen among the syninclusions suggest that the insect was likely to be anthophilous. The suspected presence of anthophily in such a specialised heteropteran insect group like Aradidae suggests that anthophily was more widespread among the Mesosoic true bugs than it can be observed in the case of extant taxa.
访花（嗜花性）和授粉现象，尽管随着开花被子植物的兴起而变得普遍，但据推测起源于上侏罗纪昆虫与裸子植物之间的食花拮抗关系。尽管这种行为并不广为人知，但在半翅目亚目（即真正的蝽类）的代表中已有多例记载。在此，我们描述了Shaykayatcoris michalskii gen. nov., sp. nov.，它是上白垩统缅甸陆块琥珀动物群（最下白垩统赛诺曼阶，约9900万年前）中已知的第一种原始扁蝽（扁蝽科）Prosympiestinae亚科的代表。除了扩展对该化石库半翅目昆虫区系的认识外，这种新蝽类的发现为蝽类的进化历史提供了有趣的见解。首先，新记录证实Prosympiestinae亚科是扁蝽类代表中的冈瓦纳残遗类群。其次，这种昆虫呈现出扁蝽类中已知的首例具有伪装作用的虹彩着色，这表明与适应生活在树皮之下的特化扁蝽类谱系相比，它具有更暴露的生活方式。第三，虹彩以及共生包裹体中的大量花粉表明该昆虫可能是嗜花的。在像扁蝽科这样特殊的半翅目昆虫类群中疑似存在嗜花现象，这表明嗜花现象在中生代蝽类中比在现存类群中更为普遍。
