New predatory cockroaches (Insecta: Blattaria: Manipulatoridae fam.n.) from the Upper Cretaceous Myanmar amber

Abstract

Abstract:We describe a new extinct lineage Manipulatoridae (new family) of cockroaches from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) amber of Myanmar. Manipulator modificaputis gen. et sp. n. is a morphologically unique extinct cockroach that represents the first (of a total of 29 known worldwide) cockroach family reported exclusively from the Myanmar amber. This family represents an early side branch of the stem group of Mantodea (most probably a sister group of Eadiidae within Blattaria/Corydioidea) because it has some synapomorphies with the Mantodea (including the stem group and Eadiidae). This family also retains symplesiomorphies that exclude a position in the crown group, and furthermore has unique autapomorphies that exclude a position as a direct ancestor of Mantodea. The unique adaptations such as strongly elongated extremities and freely movable head on a long neck suggest that these animals were pursuit predators. Five additional specimens (including two immatures) reported from the Myanmar amber suggest that this group was relatively rare but belonged to the indigenous and autochthonous inhabitants of the ancient amber forest of the Myanmar region.

Taxonomic diversity of cockroach assemblages (Blattaria, Insecta) of the Aptian Crato Formation (Cretaceous, NE Brazil)

“…This result is similar to that of Vršanský (2004) who also reported that this family accounts for 60 % of the cockroaches in the Crato Formation based on the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH, New York) collection. Blattulidae represent about 13 % of the cockroaches.…”

“…Blattulidae represent about 13 % of the cockroaches. This study shows a surpri singly low abundance of the family Umenocoleidae (only 4 %) compared to the AMNH collection, which shows that the Umenocoleidae are represented by up to 15 % of all roaches (Vršanský 2004). Although the Cretaceous cockroach assemblages differ from the Jurassic cockroach assemblages (this transition was characterized by the temporal change in the dominance of particular families), Blattulidae remain dominant during the Cretaceous, together with the Ectobiidae (Vršanský 2002).…”

“…In the Mesozoic, both termites (Isoptera) and mantises (Mantodea) evolved by the pattern (Mantodea + ("Blattaria"+ Isoptera)) (Grimaldi 2007) or independently originated from the cockroach family Liberiblattinidae (Vršanský 2002;Vršanský & Aristov 2014;Vršanský & Bechly 2015). Cockroaches possessed diverse life habits (Barna 2014) and played an important ecological role as decomposers in the present and past (Zherikhin 1993;Vršanský et al 2013).…”

“…However, only a dozen cockroach species were reported in the Crato Formation, including some unnamed species and species based on a few specimens (e.g., Crato vitisma oldreadi Bechly, 2007;"Ponopterix" burkhardi Nel, Prokop et Kirejtshuk, 2014; Raptoblatta waddingtonae Dittman, Hörnig, Haug et Haug, 2015). Thousands of specimens belong to three dominant species, Ponopterix axelrodi Vršanský et Grimaldi, 1999a, Elisama brevis (= E. americana) Mendes, 2000, and Piniblattella limai (Pinto et Purper, 1986;Pinto, 1989) (Vršanský 2004;Bechly 2007a). Using the taphonomic categories of specimen preservation by Martins-Neto & Gallego (2006), about 79.2 % of specimens described here belong to Stage I, 18.8 % belong to Stage II, and 2 % belong to Stage IV.…”

Fossil calibrations for the cockroach phylogeny (Insecta, Dictyoptera, Blattodea), comments on the use of wings for their identification, and a redescription of the oldest Bla

“…Nehevblattella grofitica Vršanský, 2004, is another purported Ectobiidae that would be the oldest fossil in the Blaberoidea if its position was accepted (Vršanský, 2004). However, this is described based on tegminal characters only.…”