Two new members of Tridactylidae (Orthoptera: Caelifera) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber
Two new members of Tridactylidae Brull, 1835 are described based on specimens found in mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber from Northern Myanmar. Duappendactylus melanocephalus gen. et sp. nov. is assigned to the family based on its two-segmented cerci and inflated mesotibia. It is similar to Birmitoxya Gorochov, 2010 by its lack of (visible) paraproctal processes and the presence of an elongated, upward-facing subgenital plate, but differs from that genus in several other aspects of its morphology. Additionally, we describe Hiemalidactylus eileenae gen. et sp. nov. based on a well preserved, presumably nymphal specimen. It is assigned to Tridactylidae based on the two-segmented cerci and the inflated mesotibia. Like the two aforementioned genera, Hiemalidactylus does not have cerciform paraproctal processes. However, this genus differs from Birmitoxya and Duappendactylus by not having an elongated subgenital plate. Instead, the paraproct is elongated and reaches almost the length of the basal segment of the cercus. These new species of Tridactylidae raise the diversity of this family known from Kachin amber to nine genera and eleven species.
Authors
- Jun‐Jie Gu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1931-4424)
- Martin Husemann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5536-6681)
- Ole-Kristian Odin Schall (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1784-6064)
Institutions
- Morpho (United States) (US)
- State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe (DE)
- Sichuan Agricultural University (CN)
- Institute for Biodiversity (DE)
- Fundación Marques de Valdecilla (ES)
- Karlsruhe University of Education (DE)
- Chengdu University (CN)
- Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (DE)
- Texas A&M University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zootaxa
- Published
- 2025-09-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5693.2.2
- Primary Topic
- Fossil Insects in Amber
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00