Researchers examining Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar have identified lacewing larvae that bear a striking resemblance to the bracts of early flowering plants.
The fossils, dated to approximately 99 million years ago, show larvae with elongated, flattened bodies and filamentous structures that match the morphology of bennettitalean or early angiosperm bracts.
This physical similarity suggests the larvae used the plant parts as a hiding place, blending in to avoid predators or to ambush prey.
The study, published in the journal Current Biology, describes the specimens as the oldest direct evidence of flowering-plant mimicry by insects.
Previous fossil evidence for such mimicry was limited to later periods, making this find a significant extension of the known timeline.
The amber deposits of the Hukawng Valley have previously yielded a rich assemblage of early angiosperms and associated insects, providing ecological context for the interaction.
Researchers caution that while the morphological match is strong, behavioural inferences remain indirect because the fossils capture only a single moment in time.
Further discoveries from the same deposits may clarify how widespread this mimicry strategy was among Cretaceous insect lineages.
Insects’ mastery over flowering-plant mimicry dates back 99 million years
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