A tiny insect preserved in amber for roughly 99 million years has been identified as a new species, Cretodorus noonoo, nicknamed “Noo-Noo.” Its most unusual feature is a folded, flexible mouthpart nearly twice as long as its body. Researchers propose that it may have helped the insect reach fluids deep inside tree bark, although the fossil cannot prove what it ate.
What is the new insect species?
Cretodorus noonoo is an extinct member of Neazoniidae, an ancient family of planthoppers. The insect was preserved in Kachin amber from Myanmar, which researchers date to roughly 99 million years ago. The discovery was reported by Tel Aviv University through Phys.org in 2026.
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The study examined 13 Neazoniidae specimens. The newly described species stands out for its elongated mouthpart, reported as nearly twice the insect’s body length.
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How did researchers identify its unusual mouthpart?
High-resolution micro-computed tomography allowed the team to reconstruct the mouthparts in three dimensions. The scans revealed dense folds running across their surfaces. The researchers interpret these folds as structural features, not decorative surface markings.
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The folds may have let the mouthpart bend without kinking or collapsing. Some fossil specimens preserve it bent, consistent with flexibility. The report says a comparable structure is not known among living relatives.
Why might it have had such a long mouthpart?
The researchers suggest that C. noonoo could have used its long, flexible mouthpart to reach sap or other sugar-rich fluids inside tree tissues. In this interpretation, the insect threaded the organ through narrow cracks in bark to reach a food source deeper within the tree.
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This is a functional hypothesis based on the fossil’s anatomy, not direct evidence of feeding. The mouthparts pointed backward and worked as a piercing-and-sucking system, making a butterfly-like nectar-feeding explanation less fitting. The report also says researchers found no convincing pollen accumulation on the fossils.
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The study’s authors cautiously connect the specialized feeding structure to possible conditions in Cretaceous forests, including thick-barked trees and recurring fires in resin-producing forests. These are broader ecological suggestions, not established causes of the insect’s anatomy or proof of how the forests functioned.
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Who described the species?
The reported paper is “Flexible Drinking Straws of the Cretaceous: A Novel Type of Labium in Mesozoic Auchenorrhyncha and Its Functional Implications,” by Dolev Fabrikant and colleagues, published in Insects in 2026 (DOI: 10.3390/insects17080789). The accessible report identifies Fabrikant and Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou of Tel Aviv University, and Yanzhe Fu of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Davranoglou described the fossil as “an extraordinary glimpse into the insect world of the age of the dinosaurs,” highlighting its long, flexible feeding organ and its lack of a close modern equivalent.
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