Two new genera and species of Elcaninae (Orthoptera, Elcanidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber

Abstract

Two new genera of Elcanidae Handlirsch, 1906 are described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Adelphellca simplicissima gen. et sp. nov. is based on a well-preserved forewing and metathoracic leg with leaf-like metatibial spurs. It is placed in the subfamily Elcaninae Handlirsch, 1906 due to its wing venation feature of fused 1A + CuPb + CuPaβ. The species Probaisselcana zhengi Gu et al., 2022 is suggested to be removed from Probaisselcana due to its long anal margin between CuA + CuPaα and MP and instead is placed in Adelphellca gen. nov. because its pterostigma without cross veins excludes it from Pseudoprobaisselcana Schall et al., 2025. Kolymbelcana phantasma gen. et sp. nov. is described based on an almost complete female specimen. Like A. simplicissima, it is placed in Elcaninae based on its wing venation, which is similar to Adelphellca. However, the two genera differ in the shape of their ovipositor, which is sword-shaped in Kolymbelcana and scythe-shaped in Adelphellca (based on A. zhengi). The new species increase the number of Elcanidae from Burmese amber to 19.