Cretophengodidae, a new Cretaceous beetle family, sheds light on the evolution of bioluminescence

Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61989592%3A15310%2F21%3A73610163" target="_blank" >RIV/61989592:15310/21:73610163 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2020.2730" target="_blank" >https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2020.2730</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.2730" target="_blank" >10.1098/rspb.2020.2730</a>

Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Cretophengodidae, a new Cretaceous beetle family, sheds light on the evolution of bioluminescence
Original language description
Bioluminescent beetles of the superfamily Elateroidea (fireflies, fire beetles, glow-worms) are the most speciose group of terrestrial light-producing animals. The evolution of bioluminescence in elateroids is associated with unusual morphological modifications, such as soft-bodiedness and neoteny, but the fragmentary nature of the fossil record discloses little about the origin of these adaptations. We report the discovery of a new bioluminescent elateroid beetle family from the mid-Cretaceous of northern Myanmar (ca 99 Ma), Cretophengodidae fam. nov. Cretophengodes azari gen. et sp. nov. belongs to the bioluminescent lampyroid clade, and would appear to represent a transitional fossil linking the soft-bodied Phengodidae + Rhagophthalmidae clade and hard-bodied elateroids. The fossil male possesses a light organ on the abdomen which presumably served a defensive function, documenting a Cretaceous radiation of bioluminescent beetles coinciding with the diversification of major insectivore groups such as frogs and stem-group birds. The discovery adds a key branch to the elateroid tree of life and sheds light on the evolution of soft-bodiedness and the historical biogeography of elateroid beetles.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10602 - Biology (theoretical, mathematical, thermal, cryobiology, biological rhythm), Evolutionary biology

Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year
2021
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

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