Stick and leaf insects (insect order Phasmatodea) are represented primarily by twig-imitating slender forms. Only a small percentage (≈1%) of extant phasmids belong to the leaf insects (Phylliinae), which exhibit an extreme form of morphological and behavioral leaf mimicry. Fossils of phasmid insects are extremely rare worldwide. Here we report the first fossil leaf insect, Eophyllium messelensis gen. et sp. nov., from 47-million-year-old deposits at Messel in Germany. The new specimen, a male, is exquisitely preserved and displays the same foliaceous appearance as extant male leaf insects. Clearly, an advanced form of extant angiosperm leaf mimicry had already evolved early in the Eocene. We infer that this trait was combined with a special behavior, catalepsy or “adaptive stillness,” enabling Eophyllium to deceive visually oriented predators. Potential predators reported from the Eocene are birds, early primates, and bats. The combination of primitive and derived characters revealed by Eophyllium allows the determination of its exact phylogenetic position and illuminates the evolution of leaf mimicry for this insect group. It provides direct evidence that Phylliinae originated at least 47 Mya. Eophyllium enlarges the known geographical range of Phylliinae, currently restricted to southeast Asia, which is apparently a relict distribution. This fossil leaf insect bears considerable resemblance to extant individuals in size and cryptic morphology, indicating minimal change in 47 million years. This absence of evolutionary change is an outstanding example of morphological and, probably, behavioral stasis.

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Original structural colors reconstructed in fossil moths had a dual defensive function and illuminate the evolution of communication strategies in insects.

A new mantispid genus and species Symphrasites eocenicus gen. sp. nov. is described from the Middle Eocene of the Messel Pit fossil site, Germany. It has been placed, with confidence, in the subfamily Symphrasinae, the fossils of which were previously unknown. A review of the known fossil species of Mantispidae is provided, and their systematic placements are discussed. Liassochrysa stigmaticaAnsorge & Schlüter, 1990 is assigned to Mantispidae, and therefore Liassochrysidae is a new synonym of Mantispidae; a second, more complete specimen of Mesomantispa sibiricaMakarkin, 1997 is described from the Early Cretaceous Baissa locality, Russia; MantispidipteraGrimaldi, 2000 is excluded from the family; Vectispa Lambkin, 1986 is referred to subfamily Mantispinae; and the assignment of WhalferaEngel, 2004 to Rhachiberothidae is validated. The origin and palaeobiogeography of the mantispids are briefly discussed: the concept of ousted relicts – which assumes that former widely distributed taxa were replaced with groups originating in the tropics – is assumed to best explain the present distribution of the family. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 149, 701–716.

Two new species of weaver ant are described from the Eocene of Germany. Males and gynes of Oecophylla longiceps

Parasitoid wasps of the family Ichneumonidae are one of the most diverse and species-rich groups of organisms with a worldwide distribution. We here describe seven new ichneumonid fossil species and two new genera from a remarkable insect fossil site, the Eocene Messel Pit in Germany (~47Ma). The unique fossil preservation allows us to place five out of the seven new species unequivocally in extant subfamilies and genera. For the first time, lobed claws which are a clear synapomorphy for the subfamily Pimplinae, are observed in a fossil, making the newly described Scambus fossilobus sp. nov. the oldest unequivocal representative of the group. We also describe a fossil of Labeninae (Trigonator macrocheirus gen. et sp. nov.), an ichneumonid subfamily that was until now believed to be an exclusively Gondwanan element. Furthermore, the newly described Rhyssella vera sp. nov., Xanthopimpla messelensis sp. nov., and X. praeclara sp. nov. provide evidence that these extant genera date back as far as the Early/Middle Eocene. In contrast to the clear placement of most of the newly described species, we were unable to place Polyhelictes bipolarus gen. et sp. nov. and Mesornatus markovici gen. et sp. nov. in an ichneumonid subfamily, mostly due to the high levels of homoplasy found in this group. These findings on the one hand demonstrate the need for a more rigorous approach in the taxonomic placement of fossil ichneumonids, and on the other hand provide more precise minimum ages for several ichneumonid genera and subfamilies.

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Aside from pollen and nectar, bees of the subfamily Megachilinae are closely associated with plants as a source of materials for nest construction. Megachilines use resins, masticated leaves, trichomes and other plant materials sometimes along with mud to construct nests in cavities or in soil. Among these, the leafcutter bees (Megachile s.l.) are the most famous for their behaviour to line their brood cells with discs cut from various plants. We report on fossil records of one body fossil of a new non-leafcutting megachiline and of 12 leafcuttings from three European sites-Eckfeld and Messel, both in Germany (Eocene), and Menat, France (Paleocene). The excisions include the currently earliest record of probable Megachile activity and suggest the presence of such bees in the Paleocene European fauna. Comparison with extant leafcuttings permits the interpretation of a minimal number of species that produced these excisions. The wide range of size for the leafcuttings indirectly might suggest at least two species of Megachile for the fauna of Messel in addition to the other megachiline bee described here. The presence of several cuttings on most leaves from Eckfeld implies that the preferential foraging behaviour of extant Megachile arose early in megachiline evolution. These results demonstrate that combined investigation of body and trace fossils complement each other in understanding past biodiversity, the latter permitting the detection of taxa not otherwise directly sampled and inferences on behavioural evolution.