Cf Jersimantis
luzzii
Class Insecta,
Order Mantodea
Geological
Time: Late Cretaceous, Turonian Stage (~90 million years ago)
Size: Amber:
15 mm long by 12 mm across, Inclusions: 1 and 7 mm
Fossil Site:
Raritan Formation, Sayreville, New Jersey, USA
|  Description:
This plaque of amber displays a most uncommon inclusion: a preying
mantis. The oldest amber containing insects comes from the deposits
of Lebanon at some 135 million years of age. Deposits in Myanmar,
New Jersey, and Japan are somewhat younger. To date, mantids
have been found in all but Myanmar, albeit generally only as
a single sample. This immature mantis is only the SECOND of which
I am aware, with the other found in the collections of the American
Museum of Natural History in New York City. The other was discovered
in 1996 and named Jersimantis luzzi. I have no reson to believe
that this one is not the same species, but I will ascribe to
it the name CF Jersimantis luzzii just to be conservative. Mantis
specimens of any age are rare, with this one some 40 million
years older than any Baltic material and some 65 million years
older than the few from the Dominican Republic.
Also
see: Cretaceous praying mantis from Myanmar
Reference: AMNH Novitates, No. 3404, 1997.
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