{"id":633972,"date":"2026-10-18T02:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T02:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/633972\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T02:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T02:54:10","slug":"scientists-discover-a-99-million-year-old-insect-with-a-bizarre-feature-never-seen-in-living-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/633972\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Discover a 99-Million-Year-Old Insect With a Bizarre Feature Never Seen in Living Species"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cretoduros<\/a>The newly described species: Cretoduros noonoo. Credit: Dolev Fabrikant<\/p>\n

Like a bendy straw, an ancient insect\u2019s folded mouthparts may have flexed without collapsing, revealing a feeding adaptation unknown in living planthoppers.<\/p>\n

About 99 million years ago, a tiny insect became trapped in tree resin with mouthparts nearly twice the length of its body. The resin hardened into amber, preserving an unusual feeding organ that researchers think could bend through narrow cracks in tree bark to reach sap.<\/p>\n

The newly described species, Cretodorus noonoo, takes its name from Noo-Noo, the friendly vacuum cleaner in the children\u2019s television series Teletubbies. The character\u2019s long, flexible hose resembles the ancient insect\u2019s mouthparts.<\/p>\n

Long mouthparts, little evidence of pollination<\/p>\n

Noo-Noo belonged to Neazoniidae, an ancient family of planthoppers. In a study published in the journal Insects, researchers examined fossils from this family, including 13 specimens preserved in Kachin amber from Myanmar. Their living relatives use mouthparts shaped like a simple needle to pierce plant tissues and suck out fluids.<\/p>\n

\"Amber<\/a>An amber fossil of a Neazoniid planthopper. Credit: Dolev Fabrikant<\/p>\n

Although the ancient insects\u2019 long mouthparts might bring a butterfly\u2019s flexible proboscis to mind, the researchers consider that resemblance superficial. Butterflies use their proboscises to drink nectar, whereas Noo-Noo\u2019s mouthparts pointed backward and formed a piercing-and-sucking system less suited to nectar feeding. The researchers also found no convincing evidence of pollen accumulating on the insects\u2019 bodies despite examining numerous fossils. Such accumulations would have supported a possible role as pollinators.<\/p>\n

Mouthparts that could bend without collapsing<\/p>\n

The elongated mouthparts of the ancient insects were densely covered with crosswise folds. Using high-resolution micro-computed tomography, the team reconstructed their internal structure and found that the folds were part of the organ\u2019s construction, rather than merely surface decoration. Like the corrugations in a bendy drinking straw or flexible hose, the folds likely allowed the mouthparts to bend while keeping them from kinking or collapsing.<\/p>\n

Several specimens had their mouthparts preserved in bent positions. Since the resin held the insects in place when they became trapped, the researchers regard these bends as additional evidence that the organs were flexible during life. This folded structure is unknown among their living relatives, suggesting an evolutionary adaptation that has since disappeared.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/a>Illustration of Cretoduros noonoo. Credit: Dolev Fabrikant<\/p>\n

The researchers propose that these insects specialized in feeding on tree sap. Their long, flexible mouthparts could have threaded through narrow cracks in bark, guiding the piercing organs toward deeper vascular tissues, which transport fluids through a plant. Two grooved lobes at the tip may have helped secure the mouthparts during feeding. The team thinks these lobes opened against the walls of a crack, anchoring the organ much as a wall plug expands inside a drilled hole.<\/p>\n

Thick bark may have favored flexibility<\/p>\n

Similar feeding structures appeared beyond this one family. Several unrelated insect groups developed long or corrugated mouthparts during the Cretaceous period, raising the possibility that forests rich in thick-barked trees favored insects able to reach deeper tissues. The study notes evidence of recurrent fires associated with resin-producing Cretaceous forests, and trees in fire-prone environments often develop thicker bark. The researchers cautiously suggest that these conditions may have opened opportunities for feeding strategies now almost entirely absent among planthoppers.<\/p>\n

\"Dolev<\/a>Lead authors of the study. Dolev Fabrikant (right), Dr. Leonidas Romanos Davranoglau (left). Credit: Dolev Fabrikant<\/p>\n

The research was conducted by Dolev Fabrikant and Dr. Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou of the School of Zoology, Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, and New Environmental School at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with Dr. Yanzhe Fu of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n

Davranoglou said, \u201cThe discovery of \u2018Noo-Noo,\u2019 a new species that lived approximately 99 million years ago, gives us an extraordinary glimpse into the insect world of the age of the dinosaurs. This is not merely an insect previously unknown to science, but an animal that developed an evolutionary solution with almost no modern equivalent: a long, flexible, and durable feeding organ that likely enabled it to reach food deep within tree bark.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues, \u201cThe fact that similar structures appeared in several insect groups during the Cretaceous period suggests that ancient forests created ecological conditions and opportunities very different from those we know today. The discovery of a new species like this is therefore not simply the addition of another name to the tree of life, but another piece of the puzzle that enables us to reconstruct what ecosystems looked like and how they functioned tens of millions of years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cFlexible Drinking Straws of the Cretaceous: A Novel Type of Labium in Mesozoic Auchenorrhyncha and Its Functional Implications\u201d by Dolev Fabrikant, Yanzhe Fu and Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou, 28 July 2026, Insects.
DOI: 10.3390\/insects17080789<\/a><\/p>\n

D.F was funded by a PhD Scholarship from the New Environment School at Tel Aviv University. D.F was supported by the Chinese Academy of Science International Visiting Student program (Project: 132432GJHZ2025011STUPRO).<\/p>\n

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