Nocticolid cockroaches are the only known dinosaur age cave survivors |
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| Institution: | 1. Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia;2. Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics, Research Center for Quantum Information, Dúbravská cesta 9, Bratislava 84511, Slovakia;3. Earth Science Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, P.O. BOX 106, 840 05 Bratislava, Slovakia;4. Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya 123, 117868 Moscow, Russia;5. Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Ilkovičova 6, Bratislava 84215, Slovakia;6. Cherepovets State University, Cherepovets 162600, Russia;7. Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Rosenstein 1, D-70191 Stuttgart, Germany;8. Friedhofstraße 9, 66894 Käshofen, Germany;9. Bodelschwinghstraße 13, 34119 Kassel, Germany;10. State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China;11. Lebanese University, Faculty of Science II, Fanar, Natural Sciences Department, PO Box 26110217, Fanar - Matn, Lebanon;12. Kitakyushu Museum, Japan;13. River Bigal Conservation Project, Avenida Rafael Andrade y clotario Vargas, 220450 Loreto, Orellana, Ecuador |
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| Abstract: | There is little fossil evidence for cave arthropods. Small size, disfunctional wings, extremely long antenna, dense minute setation, palidity and reduced eyes are typical adaptations to life in caves shown by the cockroach Mulleriblattina bowangi gen. et sp. n., found together with epigeic Crenocticola svadba sp. n., both from Myanmar amber and belonging to the cavernicolous cockroach family Nocticolidae. These lineages of earliest still living cavernicoles suggest large, numerous caverns, lava tubes or caves within the source area. They provide the first unequivocal evidence for the Mesozoic origin of any living troglomorphic organism, and explain the “long branches” in DNA analyses. Phylogenetic trees show little hierarchical structure and place Latindiinae and Myrmecoblatta within the explosively radiating Nocticolidae. Biogeography indicates a common cosmopolitan Early Cretaceous ancestor except for 8 (of 49) species of true Nocticolidae, which diverged during the Late Cretaceous breakup of Gondwana. A review of all troglofauna documents no other unequivocal pre-Cenozoic cave biotas (including vertebrates). Stable environments and small populations result in a short-time (˂3 Ma) origination of bizarre forms and long term extinctions (˃30 Ma). |
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