Caputoraptor

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Caputoraptor
Temporal range: AlbianCenomanian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
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)
  • C. ganggu Vršanský et al., 2025

Caputoraptor is an extinct genus of insect from the Cretaceous period of Southeast Asia and East Asia. The genus contains two species from the Burmese amber (Cenomanian) of Myanmar, the type species C. elegans and the second species C. vidit, and one species from the Jinju Formation (Albian) of South Korea, C. ganggu.[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 be 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]

References

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  1. ^ Vršanský, Peter; Lee, Soo Bin; Sohn, Jae-Cheon; Vršanská, Lucia; Jang, Jun-Hyeok; Nam, Gi Soo (May 15, 2025). "Jinju cockroaches" (PDF). Amba projekty. 15 (1): 1–151.
  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" (PDF). Current Biology. 30 (19): 3818–3824.e4. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.106. PMID 32763171.