A new Upper Cretaceous species of Chresmoda from Lebanon - a latest representative of Chresmodidae (Insecta: Polyneoptera inc. sed.): first record of homeotic mutations in the fossil record of insects

Abstract

The most recent representative of the semi-aquatic insect family Chresmodidae is described from the Lebanese Cenomanian marine lithographic limestone. Its highly specialized legs, with a high number of tarsomeres, never observed in other orders of insects, were probably adapted for water surface skating. We hypothesize the occurrence of a unique, extraordinary "antenna" mutation affecting the distal part of the legs of the Chresmodidae, maybe homeotic or affecting some genes that participate in the leg development and segmentation. The Chresmodidae had a serrate ovipositor adapted to endophytic egg laying in floating or aquatic plants. They were probably predaceous on nektonic small animals. As the Chresmodidae and the aquatic water skaters of the bug families Veliidae and Gerridae were contemporaneous during at least the Lower Cretaceous, these insects probably did not cause the extinction of this curious group.

Keywords

• insecta
• polyneoptera
• chresmodidae
• cenomanian
• lebanon
• systematic palaeontology
• palaeoecology
• leg morphology
• pleustonic life