Insecta - Neuroptera - Saucrosmylidae
This unusual lacewing genus from the famous Jurassic locality of Daohugou contains two species, both of which have wings decorated by transverse, or pinnate, bars strikingly similar to the pinnate leaves of cycad (Cycadales) and extinct Bennettitales plants. Leaf mimicry is a common anti-predatory adaptation in living animals; Bellinympha may have been preyed upon by feathered dinosaurs such as Epidexipteryx or the early gliding mammal Volaticotherium, both of which were also found at Daohugou.
Send comments to
Full reference: Y. J. Wang, D. Ren, Z. Q. Liu, C. K. Shih, and M. S. Engel. 2010. Bellinympha, in Ancient pinnate leaf mimesis among lacewings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(37):16212-16215
Parent taxon: Saucrosmylidae according to S. L. Winterton et al. 2019
See also Fang et al. 2015 and Wang et al. 2010
Sister taxa: Daohugosmylus, Huiyingosmylus, Laccosmylus, Lebanosmylus, Rudiosmylus, Saucrosmylus, Thaumatomerobius, Ulrikezza
Subtaxa: Bellinympha dancei Bellinympha filicifolia
Type: Bellinympha filicifolia
Ecology:
Distribution: found only at Daohugou (CNU 2010 collection) (Jurassic of China)
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.