Scientists have discovered a 99-million-year-old ancient planthopper species named Cretoduros noonoo, preserved in Kachin amber from Myanmar. This insect features an exceptionally long, flexible mouthpart covered in crosswise folds, resembling a bendy drinking straw, which is an evolutionary adaptation completely unknown in any living planthopper species. Researchers Dolev Fabrikant, Dr. Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou from Tel Aviv University, and Dr. Yanzhe Fu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences published these findings on July 28, 2026, in the journal Insects. The study suggests that the unique flexible organ allowed the insect to thread through narrow cracks in thick tree bark to feed on deep vascular sap during the Cretaceous period. The morphological analysis utilizing high-resolution micro-computed tomography revealed that the internal structure of the mouthparts was specifically built to bend without kinking or collapsing. Furthermore, two grooved lobes at the tip likely acted as anchors by expanding against the walls of bark cracks during the feeding process. The appearance of similar elongated structures across multiple unrelated insect groups during the Cretaceous implies that fire-prone ancient forests featured thick-barked trees that created distinct ecological pressures. This historical environment favored specialized feeding adaptations that are nearly absent among modern planthopper relatives today.
