Scientists reconstruct beetles from the Cretaceous
International research team gains new insights into the evolution of
fossil beetles

Date:
October 8, 2020
Source:
University of Bonn
Summary:
An international research team has examined four newly found
specimens of the Mysteriomorphidae beetle using computer tomography
and has been able to reconstruct them. The results allow to
draw conclusions about the evolution of the species during the
Cretaceous period.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== About a year ago, researchers found fossil specimens of beetles in an
amber deposit in Myanmar, thereby describing a new beetle family that
lived about 99 million years ago. However, the scientists had not been
able to fully describe the morphology of the insects in the amber sample,
which is why the beetles were subsequently given the mysterious name Mysteriomorphidae. An international research team led by the University of
Bonn (Germany) and Palacky University (Czech Republic) has now examined
four newly found specimens of the Mysteriomorphidae using computer
tomography and has been able to reconstruct them. The results allow to
draw conclusions about the evolution of the species during the Cretaceous period. The study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.


========================================================================== Small creatures enclosed in amber can provide scientists with important information about past times, some of which date back many millions
of years.

In January 2019, the Spanish paleontologist Dr. David Peris, one of the
two main authors of the study, collected several amber samples from the northern state of Kachin in Myanmar during a scientific trip to China
and found beetle specimens from the same group as the Mysteriomorphidae.

Some of the newly found specimens showed a very good state of preservation
- a good prerequisite for David Peris and his colleagues to carry out a
virtual reconstruction of one of the beetles using computer tomography
(CT scan). The technique used in paleontology allows researchers to study
many small features of the fossils - even internal structures such as genitalia, if preserved.

While David Peris and his colleagues started to study and describe the morphology, i.e. the outer shape of the beetles, another research group
also described the new family of Mysteriomorphidae by means of further specimens, that also came from the amber deposit in Myanmar. "However,
the first study left some open questions about the classification of these fossils which had to be answered. We used the opportunity to pursue these questions with new technologies," explains David Peris, researcher now at
the Institute for Geosciences and Meteorology at the University of Bonn.

"We used the morphology to better define the placement of the beetles
and discovered that they were very closely related to Elateridae, a
current family," explains Dr. Robin Kundrata from Palacky University,
the second main author of the study and also an expert on this group of beetles. The scientists discovered important diagnostic characters that
these beetle lineages share on mouthparts, thorax and abdomen.

Analysis of the evolution of beetles Apart from the morphology,
the researchers also analyzed the evolutionary history of the
beetles. Earlier models had suggested that the beetles had a low
extinction rate throughout their long evolutionary history, even during
the Cretaceous period. However, the researchers provided a list of fossil groups of beetles described from the Cretaceous amber findings that,
as Mysteriomorphidae, are only known as fossils from that time and had
not survived the end of the Cretaceous period.

Background: During the Cretaceous period, flowering plants spread all over
the world, replacing the old plants in the changing environment. This distribution of plants was connected with new possibilities for many
associated animals and also with the development of new living beings,
for example pollinators of flowers. However, most previous theories had
not described that the animal species that were previously well adapted
to the old plants were under pressure to adapt to the new resources and possibly became extinct. "Our results support the hypothesis that beetles,
but perhaps some other groups of insects, suffered a decrease in their diversity during the time of plant revolution," states David Peris.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Bonn. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
* Images_of_micro-CT_reconstruction_of_Mysteriomorphus_pelevini ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. David Peris, Robin Kundrata, Xavier Delclo`s, Bastian Ma"hler,
Michael A.

Ivie, Jes Rust, Conrad C. Labandeira. Unlocking the mystery of the
mid- Cretaceous Mysteriomorphidae (Coleoptera: Elateroidea) and
modalities in transiting from gymnosperms to angiosperms. Scientific
Reports, 2020; 10 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-73724-7 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201008121259.htm

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