Reconstructing the ecology of a Cretaceous cockroach: destructive and high-resolution imaging of its micro sensory organs

Taniguchi, Ryo; Nishino, Hiroshi; Watanabe, Hidehiro; Yamamoto, Shûhei; Iba, Yasuhiro

doi:10.1007/s00114-021-01755-9

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The microsensilla of all three fossilized antennae (the left antenna from AMNH JZC Bu109 and each right antenna of specimens A and B from AMNH Bu-KL B1-21) were visualized via the thin-sectioning and CLSM technique developed by Taniguchi et al ( 30 ) (Figs. 2, A to G, and 3, A and B).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We applied the amber thin-sectioning technique developed by Taniguchi et al ( 30 ) to visualize antennal microsensilla and their distribution pattern. One antenna of each ant fossil was cut off with its amber matrix using a printed circuit board cutter (HOZAN TOOL INDUSTRIAL Co. Ltd.) and a diamond wire saw (Pepaless Co. Ltd.); the cut pieces were then ground and polished to ~100-μm thickness using a diamond cup wheel (NIPPON DIAMOND Co. Ltd.).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensory evidence for complex communication and advanced sociality in early ants

Taniguchi,

Grimaldi,

Watanabe

et al. 2024

Sci. Adv.

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Advanced social behavior, or eusociality, has been evolutionarily profound, allowing colonies of ants, termites, social wasps, and bees to dominate competitively over solitary species throughout the Cenozoic. Advanced sociality requires not just nestmate cooperation and specialization but refined coordination and communication. Here, we provide independent evidence that 100-million-year-old Cretaceous ants in amber were social, based on chemosensory adaptations. Previous studies inferred fossil ant sociality from individual ants preserved adjacent to others. We analyzed several fossil ants for their antennal sensilla, using original rotation imaging of amber microinclusions, and found an array of antennal sensilla, specifically for alarm pheromone detection and nestmate recognition, sharing distinctive features with extant ants. Although Cretaceous ants were stem groups, the fossilized sensilla confirm hypotheses of their complex sociality.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory evidence for complex communication and advanced sociality in early ants

Taniguchi,

Grimaldi,

Watanabe

et al. 2024

Sci. Adv.

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“…Their ultrastructural TEM analysis yielded insights into the taphonomic process, such as the likely deposition of inorganic salts within muscle fibers and effects of tissue decomposition in the nervous system. More recently, Taniguchi et al (2021) used petrological thin sectioning and confocal laser scanning microscopy to study the antennal sensilla of a cockroach preserved in Myanmar amber. Although all these studies contributed important insights, the most critical advantage of µ-CT is non-destructive sampling, allowing preservation of the completely intact specimen in museum collections for perpetuity.…”

Section: General Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The First Reconstruction of the Head Anatomy of a Cretaceous Insect, †Gerontoformica gracilis(Hymenoptera: Formicidae), and the Early Evolution of Ants

Richter

Boudinot

Yamamoto

et al. 2022

Insect Systematics and Diversity

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The fossil record allows a unique glimpse into the evolutionary history of organisms living on Earth today. We discovered a specimen of the stem group ant †Gerontoformica gracilis (Barden and Grimaldi, 2014) in Kachin amber with near-complete preservation of internal head structures, which we document employing µ-computed-tomography-based 3D reconstructions. We compare †Gerontoformica to four outgroup taxa and four extant ant species, employing parsimony and Bayesian ancestral state reconstruction to identify morphological differences and similarities between stem and crown ants and thus improve our understanding of ant evolution through the lens of head anatomy. Of 149 morphological characters, 87 are new in this study, and almost all applicable to the fossil. †Gerontoformica gracilis shares shortened dorsal tentorial arms, basally angled pedicels, and the pharyngeal gland as apomorphies with other total clade Formicidae. Retained plesiomorphies include mandible shape and features of the prepharynx. Implications of the reconstructed transitions especially for the ant groundplan are critically discussed based on our restricted taxon sampling, emphasizing the crucial information derived from internal anatomy which is applied to deep time for the first time. Based on the falcate mandible in †Gerontoformica and other Aculeata, we present hypotheses for how the shovel-shaped mandibles in crown Formicidae could have evolved. Our results support the notion of †Gerontoformica as ‘generalized’ above-ground predator missing crucial novelties of crown ants which may have helped the latter survive the end-Cretaceous extinction. Our study is an important step for anatomical research on Cretaceous insects and a glimpse into the early evolution of ant heads.

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Two new cockroaches (Insecta: Blattaria: Vitisma, Nuurcala) from the Lower Cretaceous sediments of Shar-Tologoy in Mongolia

Kováčová¹

2022

Biologia

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Reconstructing the ecology of a Cretaceous cockroach: destructive and high-resolution imaging of its micro sensory organs

Cited by 4 publications

References 56 publications

Sensory evidence for complex communication and advanced sociality in early ants

Sensory evidence for complex communication and advanced sociality in early ants

The First Reconstruction of the Head Anatomy of a Cretaceous Insect, †Gerontoformica gracilis(Hymenoptera: Formicidae), and the Early Evolution of Ants

Two new cockroaches (Insecta: Blattaria: Vitisma, Nuurcala) from the Lower Cretaceous sediments of Shar-Tologoy in Mongolia

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