An international scientific team, notably from the Institut de Systématique Évolution et Biodiversité ( ISYEB ), has just identified the smallest species of singing cricket ever described, whether fossil or present-day, in opaque amber from the Cretaceous period (around 100 million years ago - Ma) in the Charentes region of France. Fossils are essential markers in the study of evolution, validating the presence in the past of zoological groups, morphological characters or behaviours. They are often incomplete, especially the oldest ones. In the case of Orthoptera insects (crickets, grasshoppers, crickets), pre-Cenozoic fossils (prior to 66 Ma) consist mainly of isolated wings or partial footprints, and the few whole fossils found in amber are mostly juveniles. Non-invasive X-ray microtomography analysis of an opaque amber fragment dating from the Cretaceous (100 Ma) has revealed two remarkably well-preserved adult crickets, belonging to two new species for science. Palaeonemobius occidentalis and Picogryllus carentonensis are thus the oldest known representatives of two worldwide subfamilies of crickets, respectively the Nemobiinae (Trigonidiidae) and the Podoscirtinae (Oecanthidae). Another rare discovery: with a body length of 3.3 mm, Picogryllus carentonensis is not only the smallest cricket ever found, present or fossil, but also possesses a complete stridulatory apparatus.
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