A fossil aphidlion preserved together with its prey in 40 million-year-old Baltic amber

Haug, Joachim T.; Kiesmueller, Christine; Haug, Gideon T.; Haug, Carolin und Hoernig, Marie K. (2022): A fossil aphidlion preserved together with its prey in 40 million-year-old Baltic amber. In: Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, Bd. 103, Nr. 1: S. 155-163

Abstract

Lacewings (Neuroptera) have predatory larvae with highly specialised mouthparts. Larvae of many groups within Neuroptera are well represented as fossils preserved in ambers;however, larvae of some groups are less often reported in the literature. Here we report such a rare case, a larva of the group Hemerobiidae, an aphidlion, preserved in a piece of Eocene Baltic amber (about 40 million years old). It is preserved together with three possible prey items, wingless aphids, most likely representatives of Germaraphis (or at least closely related to this group). The aphidlion can be identified based on the morphology of the antennae, simple curved and toothless stylets, well developed labial palps, and the absence of other mouth-part structures such as a protruding labrum or maxillary palps. A long, club-shaped distal element of the labial palps identifies the specimen as a larva of Hemerobiidae. The aphids can be identified based on their very long, beak-like mouth parts. This find is, to our knowledge, the first example of a lacewing larva preserved together with its potential prey. We briefly discuss other cases in which fossils preserved in amber allow us to reconstruct aspects of behaviour and interactions of fossil lacewing larvae.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Biologie
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie
• ISSN: 1867-1594
• Sprache: Englisch