Two fossil insects from the Upper Cretaceous of Kyushu, Japan

Abstract

Here, we report the first discovery of Mesozoic insect fossils from the Late Cretaceous of Kyushu Island, Japan. The specimens include an isolated abdomen (Insecta, fam., gen. et sp. indet.) from the Santonian Hinoshima Formation in Kumamoto, and an isolated elytron (Coleoptera, fam., gen. et sp. indet.) from the Campanian Mitsuse Formation in Nagasaki. Although the preservation of fossils does not allow for species-level identification, these finds represent a crucial initial step toward understanding insect diversity and the composition of terrestrial ecosystems in the eastern margin of East Asia during the Late Cretaceous.