A jumping conclusion: Fossil insect ID'd as new genus, species of prodigious leaper, the froghopper
Published:27 Jun.2023 Source:Oregon State University
A fossil arthropod entombed in 100-million-year-old Burmese amber has been identified as a new genus and species of froghopper, known today as an insect with prodigious leaping ability in adulthood following a nymphal stage spent covered in a frothy fluid.
Oregon State University researcher George Poinar Jr., an international expert in using plant and animal life forms preserved in amber to learn about the biology and ecology of the distant past, and his co-author, Alex E. Brown, published the findings in the journal Life.
The authors categorized the new froghopper as Araeoanasillus leptosomus, from the Greek words for thin (araeos) and bristling hair (anasillos) in reference to fern hairs (trichomes) associated with the specimen.The froghopper superfamily, Cercopoidea, contains five families that exist today -- Cercopoidae, Aphrophoridae, Clastopteridae, Epipygidae and Machaerotidae -- as well as the extinct families Cercopionidae, Procercopidae and Sinoalidae.