A team of paleontologists from Both China and the United States recently discovered a new insect larvae disguised as a bryophyte in 100 million years ago in Cretaceous Burmese amber. This discovery has added new and important clues to the unraveling of the ecological relationship between ancient creatures.
Over the course of its long geological history, a large number of insects have evolved a variety of different camouflage techniques, and these camouflage techniques, the scientific name is mimetic. With the imitation of plants, insects can hide in the environment, avoid being detected by predators, and also make it difficult for prey to detect themselves.
The new insect species discovered this time is named Huang's mossy grasshopper, and morphologically, the fossilized mossy grasshopper larvae are different from all known grasshopper larvae: they have 8 pairs of flat and wide leaf-like structures on their backs, and their shape is very similar to mossy plant bodies. In addition, their heads are able to be completely shrunk under the "blades" on the back, protruding only a pair of long antennae and a pair of pincer-like jaws at the front end, which are used to detect and prey, respectively.
This mossy grasshopper larvae is very similar to moss in individual size, leaf shape arrangement, leaf folds and lines. The researchers speculate that by camouflaging moss, insects can avoid predators while also confusing prey and improving the success rate of predation.
(City Letters)