Re-appraisal of lacewing mimicry of liverworts from the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, Myanmar with a description of Selaginella cretacea sp. nov. (Selaginellales, Selaginellaceae)

Fossils in Myanmar amber demonstrate the diversity of anti-predator strategies of Cretaceous holometabolan insect larvae

“…Newer comparison shifted this interpretation slightly, as a mimesis of a lycophyte. 41 Still the case demonstrates plant mimesis in the Kachin amber forest. Again, this type of mimesis may have been beneficial not only for predator detection/recognition avoidance, but also for detection/recognition avoidance by prey animals improving the hunting success.…”

Filmy Ferns (Hymenophyllaceae) and Associated Spike-Mosses (Selaginellaceae) from the Mid-Cretaceous Kachin Amber, Myanmar

“…All these fossil species are erected based on the combination of a series of key characters [ 23 , 25 ]. Furthermore, Li et al [ 24 ] described a new species of Selaginella subgenus Stachygynandrum with anisophyllous strobili from Kachin amber. Compared with all these Selaginella fossils from Kachin amber, our fossils are clearly different from the eleven species with anisophyllous strobili by having isophyllous strobili, and distinct from the two species S .…”

“…Recent palaeobotanical findings indicate that the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber deposit of Myanmar is an important source of Mesozoic cryptogams and angiosperms [ 5 , 6 , 7 ], which could provide direct evidence for the above hypothesis. Indeed, a large number of cryptogamic plant inclusions has already been described from Kachin amber, including liverworts [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], mosses [ 20 , 21 , 22 ], lycophytes [ 23 , 24 , 25 ] and ferns [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. As far as ferns are concerned, nine genera and ten species have been reported, most of which could be assigned to the extant families, including Cystodiaceae, Pteridaceae, Dennstaedtiaceae, Marsileaceae, Lindsaeaceae and Thyrsopteridaceae.…”

Anatomically preserved early Cretaceous lycophyte shoots; enriching the paleontological record of Lycopodiales and Selaginellales

“…Up to the present there have been few reports of selaginellalean plants that display anatomical structure, but recent reports and descriptions of fossils preserved in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar provide excellent evidence for the epidermal cellular structure for several species of Selaginella (Schmidt et al, 2020(Schmidt et al, , 2022Li et al, 2022). These show detailed evidence for epidermal cellular patterns (e.g.…”

“…Those fossils show exquisite details of external plant form and cellular patterns, but preservation of internal tissues at the cellular level is minimal (see Fig. 2a of Schmidt et al, 2020Schmidt et al, , 2022Li et al, 2022).…”