Found the oldest sucking insect – MK
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Paleontologists have found its remains in the Perm region
The oldest pollinating insects lived in the Perm Territory. Metropolitan paleontologists came to this conclusion after discovering the most ancient sucking-type insects with long proboscises in the Perm Territory. They lived about 280 million years ago, that is, they turned out to be 100 million years older than the previously known proboscis found.
As reported by “MK” in the Paleontological Institute. Borisyak RAS, the authors of the discovery worked with the imprints of insects from the Protomeropidae family. They were found in the so-called Early Permian deposits near the village of Chekarda.
Scientists were able to show that these insects, close to caddis flies (or scorpions), had proboscises consisting of two connected mandibular palps. Some modern beetles and hymenoptera have such proboscis – they serve to absorb flower nectar.
It is possible that the Permian protomeropids fed in the same way, only instead of nectar they could suck out pollination drops of Angaropeltaceae, an extinct family of gymnosperms.
The length of the protomeropid proboscis was about 2 mm, which roughly corresponded to the distance from the outer opening in the shell of the seed capsule to the seed.
Until now, the oldest owners of mouthparts of this type were considered to be lacewings and scorpions, found in China in the deposits of the Jurassic period, about 165 million years old. The new find made it possible to extend the history of proboscis by more than 100 million years into the past.
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