Wing morphology of a new Cretaceous praying mantis solves the phylogenetic jigsaw of early-diverging extant lineages

The extremely derived morphology and behaviour of extant praying mantises combined with a scarce record of fossil relatives introduce significant challenges to tracing their evolution from Palaeozoic stem-dictyopterans. Extant members of Chaeteessidae, Mantoididae and Metallyticidae could be invaluable to resolving the mantodean tree, yet their inclusion in phylogenetic analyses led to conflicting hypotheses due to their highly disparate respective morphologies. In this contribution, we present Labradormantis guilbaulti gen. et sp.n., a new fossil species described from both fore- and hind-wing imprints discovered in the Redmond Mine locality (Late Cretaceous, Cenomanian, Redmond Formation; Labrador, Canada). The examination of its hind-wing AA2* supports the hypothesis that this structure, unique to Chaeteessidae among extant mantises, is a true vein and that its occurrence represents a plesiomorphy for Mantodea. A parsimony analysis including newly coded wing-related characters further established that L. guilbaulti gen. et sp.n. displays a unique combination of plesiomorphic and apomorphic character states that situates it within the extinct family Baissomantidae. This dataset resolved the phylogenetic relationships of early-diverging extant lineages as (Chaeteessidae (Mantoididae (Metallyticidae, Artimantodea))), and suggested that the Eocene Lithophotina floccosa Cockerell might be a close relative of extant metallyticids. It also indicated a trend towards increased modularity within mantis fore-wings, in contrast with a trend towards increased morphological integration in their hind-wings, both of which are potentially associated with improved flight performance for modern mantises. This study emphasizes the importance of fossils for resolving phylogenetic relationships and for introducing transitional phenotypes to infer ancient evolutionary trends of extant derived clades.

Automated summary

This study presents a new fossil species Labradormantis guilbaulti from Canada, displaying a unique combination of ancestral and derived character states. The fossil is classified within the extinct family Baissomantidae, and helps to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships of early-diverging extant lineages. The inclusion of fossils is crucial for understanding the evolutionary trends of modern mantises and resolving their phylogenetic relationships.