Unparalleled details of soft tissues in a Cretaceous ant

作者：Yuhui Zhuang, Wenjing Xu, Guojie Zhang, Huijuan Mai, Xiaoqin Li, Hong He, Hao Ran, Yu Liu · 发表于：BMC Ecology and Evolution · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1186/s12862-022-02099-2 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior、Plant and animal studies、Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research

Abstract For social insects such as ants, the internal organs are likely important in understanding their eusocial behavior and evolution. Such organs, however, are rarely preserved on fossils. In each of the few cases reporting exceptionally fossilized soft tissues in arthropods, the nervous, muscular and cardiovascular systems have been described individually, but never in combination. Here, we report a female specimen (gyne) of the extinct ant group— † Zigrasimecia —included in a Cretaceous amber piece from Kachin, Myanmar, with an almost complete system formed by various internal organs. These include the brain, the main exocrine system, part of the digestive tract, and several muscle clusters. This research expands our knowledge of internal anatomy in stem group ants. As the gyne bears a morphologically unique labrum, our specimen’s internal and external features support the notion that the early ant may have special ecological habits during the Cretaceous period.