Researchers studied the 30-million-year-old block of amber that contains the fossil of a lacewing that looks like a praying mantis with its large eyes and four long wings. These insects have a long history of resembling praying mantis as a result of convergent evolution where the two insects evolve similar traits as they adapt to similar conditions in the environment.
It is the first adult male lacewing fossil that scientists have recovered from the Cainozoic geological era, the name of the current period, despite fossil records pointing to it living all the way back to the Cretaceous period. The new findings help in the morphology of raptorial forelegs across the lineage of extant and extinct diversity.
30-Million-Year-Old Baltic Amber Reveals First Adult Lacewing That Looks Like Praying Mantis
A Fossil in Baltic Amber Identified as Mantis Lacewing
At first glance, the fossil in the Baltic amber may look like the praying mantis, but further analysis showed that it is a mantis lacewing (Mantispidae) that belongs to true lacewings (Neuroptera). Lacewings are small predatory insects whose larvae are sometimes used in agriculture as pest control agents, according to the pest control website OISAT.
EurekAlert! reported that researchers led by Viktor Baranov of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München came across a Baltic amber in the Yantamy mine in Kaliningrad oblast, Russia, last year. After careful analysis of its morphology, paleontologists found that it was closely related to the extant mantis lacewing.
But its rear wing venation and genitalia were obscured by the "verlummung," a white film that covers many of the fossils of Baltic amber, making it impossible to conclusively confirm the identity of the insect. So, they designated the specimen as probable Mantispa and presented it as Mantispa damzenogedanica in their paper.
Mantis lacewings are one of the charismatic true lacewings that are 5-47 mm long and have prominent grasping legs that snap trap their unsuspecting prey. Their raptorial legs give them their mantis-like look that likely developed due to convergent evolution where different organisms develop similar traits because they adapt to similar conditions.
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Few Numbers of Fossilized Mantis Lacewing in Baltic Amber Baffles Scientists
According to Science Alert, the research raises several questions as to how Mantispidae evolved over the past 66 million years when the Cainozoic period started and why preserved mantis lacewing from this era is so rare.
Researchers wrote in their study that these morphological comparisons serve as a proxy to the breadth of ecologies and predatory behaviors within the species throughout their evolutionary history.
Scientists do not know why more individuals of mantis lacewings have not been found from Baltic amber despite forming in the mid-to-late Eocene epoch in Northern Europe. Researchers noted that the warm climate of the area is perfect for extant mantis lacewings, so it is logical to suggest that an unsuitable climate did not cause the rarity of fossilized insects in Baltic amber.
They believe that the decrease in the diversity of mantis lacewing legs since the Cretaceous period could have caused this. More so, the team believes that their findings point to the general lack of diversity in the species and their less abundant population. As of now, they continue to make intriguing discoveries, from studying amber to learning more about this group.
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