A fossil of Baeocossus fortunatus, an ancient cicada belongong to the group palaeontinidae, from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil.Credit...Xu et al., Sci. Adv. 10, eadr2201 (2024)
The New York Times has a story about the evolution of flight in cicadas. New research published in the journal Science Advances found that cicadas likely evolved sleeker and more powerful wings due to the existential threat posed by birds. The researchers, including Chunpeng Xu a scientist at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in China, analyzed dozens of fossilized giant cicada wings from China, Brazil and Europe.
Chunpeng Xu, a scientist at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in China and the lead author of the new study, and his colleagues describe this evolutionary bout between predator and prey as an “air race,” and they posit that the conflict eventually improved ancient cicada diversity.
“The rise of early birds influenced the aerial ecosystem during the late Mesozoic, especially the evolution of flying insects,” he said.Dr. Xu’s team analyzed ancient cicadas belonging to the group palaeontinidae. These insects, which resembled moths with shrunken heads, originated during the middle Triassic Period and persisted for around 160 million years into the Cretaceous Period. Like contemporary cicadas, the beefier palaeontinidae cicadas lived in trees and slurped up plant fluid.
