Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA doi:10.1073/pnas.1006460107 (2010)

The discovery of two well-preserved fossil lacewings from northeast China shows that insects had evolved leaf-mimicking shapes 165 million years ago — well before flowering plants rose to dominance.

Although their camouflage is not as advanced as that of some of today's plant-like insects, the wings of Bellinympha filicifolia and Bellinympha dancei (pictured) clearly resemble the feather-like leaves of ancient gymnosperm plants (inset). This, say Dong Ren of Capital Normal University in Beijing and his team, suggests that the biotic world of the Mesozoic period was more complex than previously thought. The insects probably faded when the plants their wings mimicked were usurped by an explosion in flowering plants some 100 million years ago.

Credit: Natl Acad. Sci.