A special winged nevi structure of Orthoptera insects has been found in Triassic fossils in the United States

Scanning electron microscopy and energy spectroscopy analysis of fossil wings of insects of the family Brevicephalus: z-axis comparison of electron beams

According to the Nanjing Institute of Geology uux.cn and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences: obtaining the flight function is a landmark event of the animal kingdom to expand the living space to three-dimensional space, and the animals that obtain the flight function through the wings are mainly insects, birds and a very small number of mammals. Insects have developed many types of flight patterns in their evolutionary history, among which locusts, etc., have extremely strong flight capabilities and can migrate within thousands of kilometers of continents. However, the question of the origin of the suborder Locust, including living locusts, has long been highly controversial. In recent years, the systematic view has suggested that the Mesozoic extinction type of short-veined insects is closely related to the origin of the locust suborder.

Recently, the "Research Team on the Origin and Early Evolution of Modern Terrestrial Ecosystems" at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences used scanning electron microscopy and energy spectroscopy analysis to find a special winged nevus structure of Orthoptera insects from Triassic insect specimens in the United States. Unlike living orthopteran insects, this extinction type has winged nevi structures that maintain flight stability, representing a new flight mode.

The study was done by engineer Fang Yan of the Nanjing Institute of Paleontology, together with the team of Professor Xiao Shuhai of Virginia Tech in the United States and researchers from Illinois State University. Z-axis scanning of samples is performed using the differences in detection between different probes in the scanning electron microscope and the correlation between voltage and detection depth. In the past, it was believed that scanning electron microscopy could only detect sample surface information, but the relationship between the specific detection depth and the thickness of fossil preservation was less specifically understood. The new study shows that on the surface of carbon compaction film fossils, different thicknesses can be studied in detail by the correlation between voltage and detection depth, which opens a new window for the study of deeper information preservation of carbon compression film fossils.

This study found that there is a specific winged nevi structure in the forewings of insects of the order Orthoptera brevidae, which does not exist in living orthoptera insects, which provide power through muscle contraction and relaxation, and use the fan structure of the front and back wings to disturb the surrounding air to obtain lift and forward power. However, extinct insects of the family Brachycephalus, although their wings resemble those of the living order Orthoptera, have a flight-specific winged nevi structure. This winged nevus structure is often thought to be used to maintain flight stability, and there are also winged nevis of different structures in living dragonflies and bees. However, through comparison, it was found that the winged nevus type of the short-veined insect was different, characterized by the fact that the winged nevus area was not only thickened, but also that there were more obvious transverse vein combinations in the winged mole area, and this type of wing mole with transverse vein combination is generally considered to be the original type of winged nevi.

The short-veined insect is a specific taxon of the order Orthoptera, and its taxonomic location has long been controversial. Recent systematics views suggest that this type is highly correlated with the origin of the locust suborder, so the study of short-veined insects is of great significance for the origin and evolution of locust suborders such as modern locusts. Although the short-veined insect is a globally widespread type of mesozoic insect with a very long history of research, however, the ecological habits of insects in this family are still very lacking, and this study provides new empirical evidence for the ecological study of insects of the family Brachycephalus, and the newly discovered American short-veined insect is the first report of this type in the North American continent and the oldest insect material of the family Brachycephalus. This study also provides new evidence for understanding the origins and paleoecological habits of this taxon.

论文信息：fang yan, muscente a.d., heads s. w., wang bo, xiao s.h.. (2018). the earliest elcanidae (insecta, orthoptera) from the upper triassic of north america. journal of paleontology.

Science popularization 100% helps science popularization in China, so that scientific knowledge becomes popular on the Internet and in life. Warm tips: The above is 100% popular science online reading browsing content, reprint sharing only for knowledge dissemination and learning publicity, the content of this article only represents the original author's views, if there are comments and suggestions, please leave a private message, we will deal with it in a timely manner. Welcome to the attention, thank you.