Most described Mesozoic ants belong to stem groups that existed only during the Cretaceous period. Previously, the earliest known crown ants were dated to the Turonian (Late Cretaceous, ca. 94-90 million years ago (Ma)) deposits found in the USA, Kazakhstan, and Botswana. However, the recent discovery of an alate male ant in Kachin amber from the earliest Cenomanian (ca. 99 Ma), representing a new genus and species, , revises the narrative on ant diversification. can be distinctly differentiated from all known male stem ants by its geniculate antennae with elongated scape, extending far beyond the occipital margin of the head and half the length of the funiculus, as well as its partly reduced forewing venation. Furthermore, the combination of a one-segmented waist with a well-developed node, elongated scape extending beyond the occipital margin, and reduced forewing venation, particularly the completely reduced m-cu and rs-m crossveins and absence of rm and mcu closed cells, firmly places the fossil within the extant subfamily Formicinae. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed that the amber containing originated from the Kachin mines in Myanmar. This discovery significantly revises our understanding of the early evolution of Formicinae. The presence of in Cenomanian amber indicates that the subfamily Formicinae emerged at least by the start of the Late Cretaceous, with crown ants likely originating earlier during the earliest Cretaceous or possibly the Late Jurassic, although paleontological evidence is lacking to support the latter hypothesis.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2023.390 | DOI Listing |
J Anat
December 2024
Museum of Paleontology and Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Unlike most herbivores, sauropod dinosaurs evolved simple teeth that were replaced rapidly. Sauropod craniodental morphology is conserved relative to that of many archosaur clades, but tooth breadth and replacement rate vary substantially. Two neosauropod clades, Titanosauria and Diplodocoidea, independently evolved both narrow-crowned teeth and high tooth replacement rates among a suite of other convergent features.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Fungi (Basel)
November 2024
College of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Jiu Jiang University, Jiujiang 332005, China.
While investigating macrofungi diversity in Gansu province, northwestern China, five fresh and fleshy specimens were collected, which are characterized by nearly white to buff hemispherical pileus with waved margins, a disc depressed with coral to brownish red fibrillose scales, adnate to sub-decurrent lamellae with four relatively regular rows of lamellulae, a stipe that is central, hollow, frequently straight to curved; basidiospores that are globose to subglobose, 5.0-6.0 × (3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNature
November 2024
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
A dearth of Mesozoic-aged, three-dimensional fossils hinders understanding of the origin of the distinctive skull and brain of modern (crown) birds. Here we report Navaornis hestiae gen. et sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeerJ
November 2024
Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie-Paris, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.
Background: The superorder Forcipulatacea is a major clade of sea stars with approximately 400 extant species across three orders (Forcipulatida, Brisingida, Zorocallida). Over the past century, the systematics of Forcipulatacea have undergone multiple revisions by various authors, with some considering numerous families such as Asteriidae, Zoroasteridae, Pedicellasteridae, Stichasteridae, Heliasteridae, Labidiasteridae, and Neomorphasteridae, while others recognized only two families (., Asteriidae and Zoroasteridae).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Biol Sci
October 2024
Vertebrate Evolution, Development, and Ecology, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, Leiden 2333 CR, The Netherlands.
Among cartilaginous fishes, represents the species-depauperate, morphologically conservative sister to sharks, rays and skates and the last survivor of a once far greater Palaeozoic and Mesozoic diversity. Currently, holocephalan diversity is concentrated in deep-sea species, suggesting that this lineage might contain relictual diversity that now persists in the ocean depths. However, the relationships of living holocephalans to their extinct relatives and the timescale of their diversification remain unclear.
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