Dinosaur-age cockroaches are the earliest known cave-dwellers

[msantix]

Two new species of cockroaches preserved in amber have been found in a mine located in Hukawng Valley, Myanmar. The new species are named Mulleriblattina bowangi and Crenocticola svadba and placed in the Nocticolidae family. The mine where the new cockroach species were found is dated to about 99mya and represent the first and only creatures to be discovered living in caves before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. 

 

https://cosmosmagazine.com/palaeontology/dinosaur-age-cockroaches-are-the-earliest-known-cave-dwellers

 

The paper describing the new findings is found here (Sendi et al., 2020)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1342937X20300496?via%3Dihub

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very happy they've found these and interesting, though not surprising, that these are the first cave-dwellers found from that time. Wonder what else lived in caves back then? Were there cave dinosaurs or mammals? 

And i feel sorry for the cockroaches. Thousands of generations trapped in a  cave system and then;

"Free! Free at last!"

SPLAT! 

 

[msantix]

The idea of cave mammals sounds interesting and there were probably other invertebrates living in caves that have yet to be discovered. No evidence of cave dwelling dinosaurs yet but i remember a documentary called "March of the Dinosaurs" where they depicted a Gorgosaurus living in a cave (may be an inaccurate depiction) so whether there were cave dinosaurs or not, it is possible to imagine some dinosaurs living in caves. I guess time will tell if we find any evidence of other cave dwelling creatures from the mesozoic era.