''Caputoraptor'' is an extinct genus of insect from the

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...

aged Burmese amber containing two species: the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

''Caputoraptor elegans'', as well as ''Caputoraptor vidit''. It is part of the extinct order

Alienoptera Alienopteridae is an extinct family of dictyopterans, known from the Mid-Cretaceous to Eocene. They are noted for their unusual combination of features not found in other dictyopterans. Taxonomy It was originally assigned to its own order Alie ...

. ''C. elegans'' is notable for the presence of a scissor like mechanism consisting of a straight edge on the back of the head and corresponding serrated edges on the first thoracic segment, these were initially suggested to used by the female to grasp the male during mating, but the structure is not sexually dimorphic, so a use to hold prey was subsequently suggested. Its morphology suggests a predatory habit inhabiting shrubs and trees. In 2020 a ''Caputoraptor elegans'' nymph was described that was in the process of being predated upon by a '' Ceratomyrmex'' hell ant.

References

Prehistoric insect genera Burmese amber Fossil taxa described in 2018 {{cretaceous-insect-stub