Researchers have identified a newly discovered 99-million-year-old insect species preserved in Myanmar amber, featuring a flexible feeding organ nearly twice its body length. Named Cretodorus noonoo after a Teletubbies character, the prehistoric planthopper reveals ancient forest ecology where specialized Cretaceous insects tapped deep tree bark tissues.
A tiny insect trapped in tree resin nearly 99 million years ago possessed a specialized feeding apparatus unlike almost anything found in modern nature. Scientists analyzing fossil specimens preserved in Kachin amber from Myanmar have described a brand-new prehistoric species, Cretodorus noonoo, or ‘Noo-Noo’.
The discovery brings to light an extinct family of planthoppers known as Neazoniidae. Researchers from the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University, Israel, examined 13 preserved amber specimens using high-resolution micro-computed tomography to reconstruct their internal and external structures in three dimensions, detailing an evolutionary adaptation that has entirely disappeared from modern ecosystems.
An Accordion-Like Proboscis Built From Folds
The most striking feature of the ancient insect is its elongated mouthparts, which stretched to nearly twice the length of the creature’s body. Unlike the simple needle-like mouthparts of living planthoppers that pierce plant tissues directly, the proboscis of Cretodorus noonoo was covered in dense transverse folds.
Digital scans confirmed these ridges were structural rather than merely decorative. They gave the long feeding tube exceptional flexibility while preventing it from kinking or collapsing during use. Researchers compared the mechanics to a bendy drinking straw or a corrugated flexible vacuum hose.
“This is not merely an insect previously unknown to science, but an animal that developed an evolutionary solution with almost no modern equivalent: a long, flexible and durable feeding organ that likely enabled it to reach food deep within tree bark,”
Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou, School of Zoology
Because several amber fossils preserved the mouthparts in a bent position, the team gained direct physical evidence that the organ retained its pliable range of motion during the insect’s lifetime.
Probing Bark Crevices for Tree Sap
Scientists believe the insects specialized in extracting sap directly from trees. Their long, flexible mouthparts could snake through narrow cracks in thick bark, guiding the piercing organs straight to the deep vascular tissues.
At the very tip of the organ sat another specialized structure: two grooved lobes designed to open during feeding. According to the study published in the journal Insects, these lobes helped anchor the mouthpart against the walls of a bark crack, similar to a wall anchor expanding inside a drilled hole.
Teletubbies Inspiration and Cretaceous Forest Ecology
The unusual scientific name acknowledges a modern pop-culture icon. Researchers named the species after Noo-Noo, the vacuum cleaner character from the children’s television series Teletubbies, whose long, flexible hose shares a clear structural resemblance to the fossilized feeding organ.
Beyond its striking appearance, the discovery offers clues about the ancient environment. Similar corrugated feeding structures evolved independently across several unrelated insect groups during the Cretaceous period. The researchers suggest that forests of the era frequently featured trees with thick bark, creating unique ecological pressures and feeding opportunities that vanished long ago.
According to Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou of the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, uncovering a new species that existed about 99 million years ago offers a remarkable look into the dinosaur-era insect realm. He further noted that finding such a species goes beyond merely adding a new entry to the tree of life, serving instead as a vital clue that helps scientists piece together the appearance and function of ecosystems from tens of millions of years ago.
