New mantises (Insecta: Mantodea) in Cretaceous ambers from Lebanon, Spain, and Myanmar

•New Middle Cretaceous mantises of Lebanon, Spain and Myanmar are studied.•Three species are described from the Aptian–Cenomanian interval.•Head and proleg structures are valuable to differentiate Cretaceous mantises.•A phylogenetic analysis of all Cretaceous mantises is presented.•Scarcity of fossil adults and diagnostic characters imply uncertain relationships within basal mantises.

Diverse new material of mantises found in the Cretaceous amber-bearing deposits from Lebanon (Barremian), Spain (Albian), and Myanmar (Albian–Cenomanian) are described and figured. The Lebanese and Spanish forms are nymphs; while the one from Myanmar is an adult specimen. The Lebanese nymph corresponds to a new specimen of Burmantis lebanensis Grimaldi, 2003 while the adult Burmese (Myanmar) specimen belongs to the new species Burmantis zherikhini. The Spanish specimen represents a new genus and species and is established as Aragonimantis aenigma, but is considered family incertae sedis. The Spanish specimen is the first record of Mesozoic mantises from western-European amber deposits. A revised phylogenetic hypothesis for Cretaceous mantises is proposed.

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