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| Shaykayatcoris michalskii Kóbor & Szabó, 2025 artistic reconstruction by Márton Zsoldos |
Abstract
The phenomenon of flower visiting (anthophily) and the pollination, though becoming prevalent with the rise of flowering angiosperms, hypothesized to have originated from the antagonistic relationship of florivory between insects and gymnosperms in the Upper Jurassic. Though not commonly known, this behaviour has been documented in several instances among the representatives of the suborder Heteroptera, i.e., the true bugs. Here, we describe Shaykayatcoris michalskii gen. nov., sp. nov., the first known representative of the plesiomorphic flat bug (Aradidae) subfamily Prosympiestinae in the Upper Cretaceous Burma Terrane amber fauna (Lowermost Cenomanian, ca. 99 Mya). Besides expanding the knowledge on the heteropteran insect fauna of the Lagerstätte, the discovery of this new true bug provides intriguing insights into the evolutionary history of true bugs. First, the new record corroborates that the subfamily Prosympiestinae is a Gondwanan relict group among the representatives of flat bugs. Second, this insect presents the first known incidence of iridescent colouration in flat bugs with a tentative role of camouflage, suggesting a more exposed lifestyle compared to the apomorphic lineages of flat bugs, which have adapted to live under tree bark. Third, the iridescence and the high amount of pollen among the syninclusions suggest that the insect was likely to be anthophilous. The suspected presence of anthophily in such a specialised heteropteran insect group like Aradidae suggests that anthophily was more widespread among the Mesosoic true bugs than it can be observed in the case of extant taxa.
Keywords: Heteroptera, Aradidae, Fossil, Iridescence, Anthophily
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| Reconstructions of Shaykayatcoris michalskii gen. et sp. nov.: (a) line drawing of the second author (parts of femora visible in dorsal view were omitted), (b) artistic reconstruction by Márton Zsoldos, Hungarian palaeoartist. |
Systematic palaeontology
Order Hemiptera Linnaeus, 1758.
Suborder Heteroptera Latreille, 1810.
Infraorder Pentatomomorpha Leston, Pendergrast and Southwood, 1954.
Superfamily Aradoidea Brullé, 1836.
Family Aradidae Brullé, 1836.
Subfamily Prosympiestinae Usinger and Matsuda, 1959.
Shaykayatcoris Kóbor and Szabó gen. nov.
Differential diagnosis: Shaykayatcoris gen. nov. possesses the following synapomorphies shared with representatives of the tribe Prosympiestini: gular area smooth (in Llaimacorini gular area with a shallow longitudinal groove), peritreme situated anteriorly to hind coxa (in Llaimacorini peritreme situated close to the middle coxa). The bristle of the peritreme characteristic of tribe Prosympiestini is not observable, but it may have been broken off when trapped in resin. Shaykayatcoris gen. nov. is macropterous, possessing a triangular scutellum (shared synapomorphy with Prosympiestus Bergroth, 1894; other prosympiestine genera are brachypterous), length of head greater than the width (shared synapomorphy with Prosympiestus, length of head distinctly shorter than width in the other prosympiestine genera), antenniferous tubercle reduced (autapomorphy, antenniferous tubercles well-developed or even produced laterally in other prosympiestine genera), postocular region slightly concave (autapomorphy, postocular region convex or straight in other prosympiestine genera), width of pronotum is 1.3× greater than length (width of pronotum is at least twice greater than length in other prosympiestine genera), scutellum is slightly shorter than pronotum (autapomorphy, scutellum is at least somewhat shorter in other prosympiestine genera), hemelytron with fine, sparse punctuation at claval furrow and along veins of corium (autapomorphy, hemelytron extensively and strongly punctate in Prosympiestus).
Etymology: Generic name masculine. The name of the genus is derived from the Burmese word ရှေးခေတ် (shayyhkayat), meaning ’ancient’ and the Greek κοριός (koriós = coris), meaning ’bug’.
Shaykayatcoris michalskii Kóbor and Szabó sp. nov.
Type locality and horizon: Upper Cretaceous, lower Cenomanian (98.79 ± 0.62 Ma, according to Shi et al.24; from an amber mine in Hukawng Valley, Tanai Township, Myitkyina District, Kachin State, northern Myanmar.
Etymology: The species is named after Artur Michalski, a Polish amber collector (predominantly specialized in Baltic amber) who donated the specimen to the authors for scientific purposes. With the naming, authors intend to encourage collectors and traders to cooperate with scientists to reveal the palaeobiodiversity trapped in amber.
Péter Kóbor & Márton Szabó. 2025. A New fossil plesiomorphic Flat Bug (Aradidae) suggests widespread flower visiting in Heteroptera during the Mesozoic. Scientific Reports. 15: 30282. DOI: doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-15559-8 [19 August 2025]
