TY - JOUR T1 - A Cretaceous bug indicates that exaggerated antennae may be a double-edged sword in evolution JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2020.02.11.942920 SP - 2020.02.11.942920 AU - Bao-Jie Du AU - Rui Chen AU - Wen-Tao Tao AU - Hong-Liang Shi AU - Wen-Jun Bu AU - Ye Liu AU - Shuai Ma AU - Meng-Ya Ni AU - Fan-Li Kong AU - Jin-Hua Xiao AU - Da-Wei Huang Y1 - 2020/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/02/29/2020.02.11.942920.abstract N2 - The true bug family Coreidae is noted for its distinctive expansion of antennae and tibiae. However, the origin and early diversity of such expansions in Coreidae are unknown. Here, we describe the nymph of a new coreid species from a Cretaceous Myanmar amber. Magnusantenna wuae gen. et sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Coreidae) differs from all recorded species of coreid in its exaggerated antennae (nearly 12.3 times longer and 4.4 times wider than the head). The emergence of the bizarre antennae may be the result of natural selection. Such antennal elaboration indicates that long-distance chemical communication or defense behavior in Hemiptera have been already well established in the early of Upper Cretaceous. The specialized antenna maintains in adult like extant coreids, which means that antennae may play an important role in sexual display. Even so, the highly specialized characteristic would also have confronted a substantial investment and high risk, which may have facilitated the final disappearance of the antenna. ER -