A mantis-type ootheca from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Insecta: Dictyoptera)

We report a fossil ootheca of Dictyoptera from mid-Cretaceous Burmese (Myanmar) amber. This ootheca resembles those of extant mantises, particularly Chaeteessa, and it is provisionally identified to Mantodea. Whilst Blattodea (Blattaria and Isoptera, or ‘true’ cockroaches and termites) are ruled out as the owner of this ootheca, Alienoptera and basal Dictyoptera remain possible. This is the first fossil described of the mantis-type ootheca, and...