Disruptive colouration is much more common in immature animals from the Myanmar amber forest than anticipated, indicating regular convergent evolution

Animals have evolved a wide range of traits to avoid predation, and some of these defensive strategies can be traced in the fossil record. Recently, the first case of disruptive colouration was documented in a lacewing larva from Cretaceous Kachin amber, Myanmar. Here we report additional immature specimens from the same deposit that also exhibit disruptive colouration, expressed as alternating dark and bright stripes on the legs. The examples span a broad array of lineages, including another lacewing larva (Neuroptera: Crocinae), as well as planthoppers (Fulgoromorpha), a true bug (Heteroptera), a “predatory cricket” (Ensifera), cockroach-like forms (Dictyoptera), and several praying mantises (Mantodea). The repeated appearance of leg-based disruptive colouration in such distantly related groups suggests that this trait evolved multiple times already 100 million years ago, reflecting diverse predator-prey interactions and a complex Cretaceous food web.