一个国际研究团队发现并描述了一种距今约3.24亿年（晚密西西比世）的新昆虫物种 Chosha praecursor，揭示了昆虫从水生到陆生的渐进式两栖过渡阶段1。该研究成果于2026年8月26日发表在《Nature》上（DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10961-2）1。
该昆虫化石发现于美国得克萨斯州西部Marathon Uplift的Tesnus组钙质粘土岩结核中1。化石标本虫体长32.09毫米，含中尾丝和尾须总长49.66毫米1。其腹部第1至第9节具分节附肢，后部腹部附肢特化为桨状结构1。
该研究重新评估了多块古生代六足动物化石，填补了六足动物化石记录中约8000万年的空白，并将昆虫早期多样化时间推前至早泥盆世1。研究由中国科学院南京地质古生物研究所蔡晨阳教授与剑桥大学联合培养博士生Erik Tihelka领衔1。
An international research team has discovered and described a new insect species, Chosha praecursor, dating back approximately 324 million years to the Late Mississippian period 1. The fossil was unearthed from calcareous claystone nodules in the Tesnus Formation of the Marathon Uplift in western Texas, United States, shedding light on the gradual amphibious transition of insects from aquatic to terrestrial environments 1. The specimen measures 32.09 millimeters in body length and reaches a total length of 49.66 millimeters when including its median caudal filament and cerci 1. Remarkably, the insect's abdomen features segmented appendages on the first through ninth segments, with the posterior abdominal appendages specifically adapted into paddle-like structures 1.
The study was led by Professor Cai Chenyang from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, alongside Erik Tihelka, a jointly trained PhD student at the University of Cambridge 1. By re-evaluating multiple Paleozoic hexapod fossils, the researchers successfully bridged an approximately 80-million-year gap in the hexapod fossil record and pushed the timeline for the early diversification of insects back to the Early Devonian period 1. These findings were officially published in the journal Nature on August 26, 2026, with the DOI 10.1038/s41586-026-10961-2 1.
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