Ciconipteryx bidactylus, Schall & Cao & Husemann, 2025

Schall, Ole-Kristian Odin, Cao, Chengquan & Husemann, Martin, 2025, New genera and species of Ripipterygidae (Orthoptera, Tridactyloidea) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, Contributions to Entomology 75 (2), pp. 253-262 : 253-262

Ciconipteryx bidactylus sp. nov.

Figs 3 , 4 , 5 , 6

Etymology.

The species’ name refers to the protibia with (only) two dactyls.

Locality and horizon.

The specimen was included in amber found in Hkamti , Sagaing Division, Myanmar or Tanai, Kachin State Burma, Myanmar, two nearby amber mining locations . The amber from Hkamti is ca. 110 My and the amber from Tanai ca. 99 My old.

Holotype.

Female. Specimen part of the LIB-Hamburg collection, collection number GPIH 07210 (ex collection Martin Husemann MH 0093 ).

Diagnosis of species.

As for genus (monotypic).

Description.

The specimen is relatively well preserved, but unfortunately the apical region of the metatibia and the metatarsus are missing.

Measurements: Body length (head to abdominal apex) 1.4 mm. Head height 0.6 mm. Eye height 0.21 mm, width 0.11 mm. Interocular distance (mid-eye level) ca. 0.2 mm. Protibia 0.24 mm long. Longest dactyl 0.05 mm long. Mesofemur 0.67 mm long. Mesotibia 0.59 mm long. Mesotarsus 0.27 mm long. Metafemur 1.4 mm. Cercus 0.12 mm long. Paraproctal lobes 0.1 mm long.

Head: Antennae not preserved. Interocular distance wider than compound eye width. Eyes somewhat tear-shaped, laterally protruding from head. Ocelli not visible.

Thorax: Pronotum with posterior margin straight (not rounded or pointed), covering base of forewings. Pronotum without elevation. Forewings present with four or five simple veins visible. Hindwings present, shorter than abdomen.

Legs: Prothoracic leg: Femur and tibia setulose with long hairs. Tibia only slightly inflated with two relatively long dactyls. Tarsus with two claws.

Mesothoracic leg: Very long and slender along entire length. Femur inconspicuous. Tibia not inflated. With 8–11 fine spines on the ventral margin of the distal half and five hairs subapically on the dorsal side. Tarsus two-segmented with first segment much shorter than second. Bulbous apical lobe on first tarsal segment. Second tarsal segment with two claws.

Metathoracic leg: Femur long and inflated along its entire length. Only ca. proximal third of metatibia preserved.

Abdomen: Cercus one-segmented, cylindrical in shape with some hairs. Paraproctal lobes one-segmented, sligthly clavate and slightly shorter than cercus; setulose with long hair, especially apically. From a dorsal view apices of ovipositor valves just visible between paraproctal lobes.

Remarks.

Ciconipteryx bidactylus gen. et sp. nov. is assigned to Ripipterygidae based on the following characters: 1) Cercus one-segmented. 2) Mesotibiae not inflated. 3) Ovipositor visible. 4) Paraproctal lobes with distinct array of setae. It differs from previously described genera of Kachin amber Ripipterygidae by its two dactyls on the protibia (in other species from this locality and horizon there are either four dactyls or 0, as in Ozymandipteryx campana gen. et sp. nov.) and the markedly longer mesothoracic leg and metafemur which are longer or just as long as the body, respectively. The two dactyls on the protibia represent a character shared between Ciconipteryx and some species of the fossil as well as extant genus Mirhipipteryx Günther, 1969 . While certain species of this genus, such as M. antillarum Heads, 2010 , are reported to have three protibial dactyls ( Heads 2010), some modern species such as M. pulicaria ( Saussure, 1896) are said to have only two ( Baena-Bejarano et al. 2018), as in C. bidactylus . However, Ciconipteryx can be differentiated from Mirhipipteryx by its proportionally longer legs (in M. pulicaria the mesothoracic leg length is only ca. 60 % of the total body length) and its interocular distance between the compound eyes, which is wider than the compound eye width in Ciconipteryx , but significantly shorter in Mirhipipteryx ( Heads 2010; Baena-Bejarano 2018). Species of the other extant Ripipterygidae genus, Ripipteryx Newman, 1834 , are much larger than Ciconipteryx and Mirhipipteryx ( Heads 2010) .

Figures

Figure 3. Ciconipteryx bidactylus gen. et sp. nov. holotype female, collection number GPIH 07210. A, B. Specimen in frontal view. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Figure 4. Ciconipteryx bidactylus gen. et sp. nov. holotype female, collection number GPIH 07210. A, B. Specimen in dorsal view. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Figure 5. Ciconipteryx bidactylus gen. et sp. nov. holotype female, collection number GPIH 07210. A, B. Detail of head region in dorsal view as image and schematic drawing. Abbreviations: pn = pronotum; tg = tegmen; e = eye; pt = prothoracic leg; C, D. Detail of abdominal region in dorsal view as image and schematic drawing. Red arrows in C mark valves of ovipositor just visible between paraproctal lobes. Abbreviations: hw = hindwing; ppl = paraproctal lobe; ce = cercus; E, F. Detail of meso- and metathoracic leg in dorsal view as image and schematic drawing. Abbreviations: mtt = metatibia; mtf = metafemur; msf = mesofemur; mst = mesotibia; msta = mesotarsus. Scale bars: 0.1 mm (A – D); 0.5 mm (E, F).

Figure 6. Ciconipteryx bidactylus gen. et sp. nov. holotype female, collection number GPIH 07210. A, B. Detail of head and prothoracic leg in frontal view as image and schematic drawing. Abbreviations: e = compound eye; pt = prothoracic leg; C, D. Detail of meso- and metathoracic leg in frontal view as image and schematic drawing. Abbreviations: msf = mesofemur; mst = mesotibia; msta = mesotarsus; mtf = metafemur; mtt = metatibia. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.