Evolutionary insights from a rare male palm bug (Thaumastocoridae) in Cretaceous amber

Evolutionary insights from a rare male palm bug (Thaumastocoridae) in Cretaceous amber | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Evolutionary insights from a rare male palm bug (Thaumastocoridae) in Cretaceous amber Mateo D. Monferran, Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou, Enrique Peñalver This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7203518/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We report the earliest occurrence of the hemipteran family Thaumastocoridae, relict in the extant entomofauna and with representatives infamous for the damage they cause to palm crops. The new taxon, Popovocoris punctatus nov. gen. et sp., based on a unique male specimen exquisitely preserved in Cretaceous Burmese amber, exhibits a dorsoventrally flattened body with fine punctate sculpturing, four-segmented antennae, areolate hemelytra, and distinctive forewings with a dull-white membrane lacking visible venation. By undertaking a morphological-based cladistic analysis, this specimen is placed within Cimicomorpha, specifically alongside extant family Thaumastocoridae, and with high certainty in its subfamily Thaumastocorinae, based on other key features as is asymmetrical male genitalia. This discovery indicates early evolution of the family and the record of asymmetrical genitalia in East Asia at least since the Late Cretaceous. The affinity of this specimen with Thaumastocorinae, predominantly distributed in the South Hemisphere (particularly Australia and southern India), provides compelling evidence for an Asian origin of the lineage. Furthermore, this finding supports the hypothesis of Gondwanan connections for certain Burmese amber taxa, contributing to our understanding of Cretaceous palaeobiogeography and the evolutionary history of this enigmatic hemipteran family, while highlighting the typically low diversity of Cretaceous Cimicomorpha. Biological sciences/Ecology Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology Biological sciences/Evolution Biological sciences/Zoology Cimicomorpha phylogeny Cretaceous palaeobiogeography fossil resin Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryMaterial.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7203518","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":552800932,"identity":"ee9662a6-bebf-4363-a637-e72cef145ba0","order_by":0,"name":"Mateo D. 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amber","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Cimicomorpha, phylogeny, Cretaceous, palaeobiogeography, fossil resin","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7203518/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7203518/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eWe report the earliest occurrence of the hemipteran family Thaumastocoridae, relict in the extant entomofauna and with representatives infamous for the damage they cause to palm crops. The new taxon, \u003cem\u003ePopovocoris punctatus\u003c/em\u003e nov. gen. et sp., based on a unique male specimen exquisitely preserved in Cretaceous Burmese amber, exhibits a dorsoventrally flattened body with fine punctate sculpturing, four-segmented antennae, areolate hemelytra, and distinctive forewings with a dull-white membrane lacking visible venation. By undertaking a morphological-based cladistic analysis, this specimen is placed within Cimicomorpha, specifically alongside extant family Thaumastocoridae, and with high certainty in its subfamily Thaumastocorinae, based on other key features as is asymmetrical male genitalia. This discovery indicates early evolution of the family and the record of asymmetrical genitalia in East Asia at least since the Late Cretaceous. The affinity of this specimen with Thaumastocorinae, predominantly distributed in the South Hemisphere (particularly Australia and southern India), provides compelling evidence for an Asian origin of the lineage. Furthermore, this finding supports the hypothesis of Gondwanan connections for certain Burmese amber taxa, contributing to our understanding of Cretaceous palaeobiogeography and the evolutionary history of this enigmatic hemipteran family, while highlighting the typically low diversity of Cretaceous Cimicomorpha.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Evolutionary insights from a rare male palm bug (Thaumastocoridae) in Cretaceous amber","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-12-01 07:20:52","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7203518/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"38592976-3bac-4618-a14f-6ec899cfcdb0","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 1st, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":58827720,"name":"Biological sciences/Ecology"},{"id":58827721,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology"},{"id":58827722,"name":"Biological sciences/Evolution"},{"id":58827723,"name":"Biological sciences/Zoology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-04T12:26:29+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-12-01 07:20:52","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7203518","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7203518","identity":"rs-7203518","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}