Aethiocarenus Explained

Aethiocarenus is an extinct genus of insects which has a single species Aethiocarenus burmanicus described from a 98.79 ±0.62 million year old fossil found in Burmese amber from the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar. The insect is unusual due to the vertex of the triangular head being attached to the pronotum as opposed to the hypotenuse. When first described Aethiocarenus was placed as the sole member of the family Aethiocarenidae and order Aethiocarenodea.^[1] However, Aethiocarenus was later considered to be a nymph of Alienopterus. Vršanský et al. (2018) considered Aethiocarenus to be an alienopterid nymph, but considered it distinct from other members of this group and deserving a separate genus rank.^[2]

Description

Aethiocarenus was probably an omnivore and had a long, narrow, flat body, and long slender legs. The eyes are at the sides of the head, allowing the insect to look behind. Glands on the neck indicate that the creature may have emitted chemicals to repel predators.^{[3] [4]}

Notes and References

1. 10.1016/j.cretres.2016.12.011. An exotic insect Aethiocarenus burmanicus gen. et sp. nov. (Aethiocarenodea ord. nov., Aethiocarenidae fam. nov.) from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber. Cretaceous Research. 72. 100–104. 2017. Poinar. George. Brown. Alex E.. (Same at researchgate - free)
2. Peter Vršanský . Günter Bechly . Qingqing Zhang . Edmund A. Jarzembowski . Tomáš Mlynský . Lucia Šmídová . Peter Barna . Matúš Kúdela . Danil Aristov . Sonia Bigalk . Lars Krogmann . Liqin Li . Qi Zhang . Haichun Zhang . Sieghard Ellenberger . Patrick Müller . Carsten Gröhn . Fangyuan Xia . Kyoichiro Ueda . Peter Vďačný . Daniel Valaška . Lucia Vršanská . Bo Wang . 2018 . Batesian insect-insect mimicry-related explosive radiation of ancient alienopterid cockroaches . Biologia . 73 . 10 . 987–1006 . 10.2478/s11756-018-0117-3 . 255377966 .
3. Web site: Ancient, scary and alien-looking specimen forms a rarity in the insect world – a new order . 2017-01-25 . Oregon State University, News and Research Communications . 2017-01-27.
4. News: This Scary, Alien-Like Specimen Trapped in Amber Represents a Brand New Order of Insect. Hrala. Josh. ScienceAlert. 2017-02-07. en-gb.