A mantidfly in Cretaceous Spanish amber provides insights into the evolution of integumentary specialisations on the raptorial foreleg

Multiple predatory insect lineages have developed a raptorial lifestyle by which they strike and hold prey using modified forelegs armed with spine-like structures and other integumentary specialisations. However, how structures enabling the raptorial function evolved in insects remains largely hypothetical or inferred through phylogeny due to the rarity of meaningful fossils. This is particularly true for mantidflies (Neuroptera: Mantispidae),...