Discovery of the Smallest Lace Bug from Mid-Cretaceous of Northern Myanmar Supports the Hypothesis of a Miniaturization Phenomenon of Insects in Kachin Amber (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Tingidae)

• Main Authors: Jun Souma, Shûhei Yamamoto, Yui Takahashi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
• Series: Taxonomy
• Subjects: taxonomy; new genus; new species; miniaturization; Mesozoic; Myanmar
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6500/1/2/7

A total of 14 species in seven tingid genera have been described from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese (Kachin) amber from northern Myanmar, with very distinct paleofauna. Here, a new species of a new genus, <i>Burmavianaida anomalocapitata</i> gen. et sp. nov., is described from Kachin amber. This new species can be readily distinguished from the other described tingid taxa by the apparently smaller body and the structures of the pronotum and hemelytron. <i>Burmavianaida</i> gen. nov. shares the diagnostic characters with two clades composed of three extant subfamilies (Cantacaderinae + Tinginae) and Vianaidinae and may represent an extinct clade distinct from them. To the best of our knowledge, <i>B</i>. <i>anomalocapitata</i> sp. nov. is the smallest species of Tingidae among over 2600 described species. Our new finding supports the hypothesis of the miniaturization phenomenon of insects in Kachin amber, as suggested by previous studies.