Caputoraptor

Caputoraptor is an extinct genus of insect from the Cenomanian aged Burmese amber containing two species: the type species Caputoraptor elegans, as well as Caputoraptor vidit.[1] It is part of the extinct order Alienoptera. C. elegans is notable for the presence of a scissor like mechanism consisting of a straight edge on the back of the head and corresponding serrated edges on the first thoracic segment, these were initially suggested to used by the female to grasp the male during mating, but the structure is not sexually dimorphic, so a use to hold prey was subsequently suggested.[2] Its morphology suggests a predatory habit inhabiting shrubs and trees.[3] In 2020 a Caputoraptor elegans nymph was described that was in the process of being predated upon by a Ceratomyrmex hell ant.[4]

Caputoraptor
Temporal range: Cenomanian 99 Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Family: †Alienopteridae
Genus: †Caputoraptor
Bai et al, 2018
Type species
†Caputoraptor elegans
Bai et al, 2018
Other species
  • †C. vidit
    Šmídová, Vršanský & Wang in Vršanský et al. (2018)

References
  1. Peter Vršanský; Günter Bechly; Qingqing Zhang; Edmund A. Jarzembowski; Tomáš Mlynský; Lucia Šmídová; Peter Barna; Matúš Kúdela; Danil Aristov; Sonia Bigalk; Lars Krogmann; Liqin Li; Qi Zhang; Haichun Zhang; Sieghard Ellenberger; Patrick Müller; Carsten Gröhn; Fangyuan Xia; Kyoichiro Ueda; Peter Vďačný; Daniel Valaška; Lucia Vršanská; Bo Wang (2018). "Batesian insect-insect mimicry-related explosive radiation of ancient alienopterid cockroaches". Biologia. 73 (10): 987–1006. doi:10.2478/s11756-018-0117-3.
  2. Kočárek, Petr (August 2018). "The cephalo-thoracic apparatus of Caputoraptor elegans may have been used to squeeze prey". Current Biology. 28 (15): R824–R825. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.046. PMID 30086312.
  3. Ming Bai; Rolf Georg Beutel; Weiwei Zhang; Shuo Wang; Marie Hörnig; Carsten Gröhn; Evgeny Yan; Xingke Yang; Benjamin Wipfler (2018). "A new Cretaceous insect with a unique cephalo-thoracic scissor device". Current Biology. 28 (3): 438–443.e1. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.031. PMID 29395923.
  4. Barden, Phillip; Perrichot, Vincent; Wang, Bo (August 2020). "Specialized Predation Drives Aberrant Morphological Integration and Diversity in the Earliest Ants". Current Biology: S0960982220310009. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.106.


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