Under cover at pre-angiosperm times: A cloaked phasmatodean insect from the Early Cretaceous Jehol biota

Cretophasmomima melanogramma was described as a stem-Phasmatodea insect on the basis of one female and two male Yixian specimens with diagnostic operculum and wing characters.

The profiled Cretophasmomima material is from the Yixian Formation of the Jehol biota in Inner Mongolia, China; this records the sampled locality rather than a complete species distribution.

Dark longitudinal wing veins were interpreted as possible leaf mimicry associated with a contemporaneous plant organ; the described specimens measure approximately 47–56 mm, suggesting a plant-associated crypsis context without directly observing diet or behaviour.

Cretophasmomima melanogramma preserves a female abdominal operculum, a forewing shoulder pad and dark longitudinal veins that diagnose the described stem-stick-insect morphology.

The displayed 130–122 Ma window converts the Yixian Formation age of approximately 126 ± 4 Ma for the three specimens; it is not a global species range or Phasmatodea origin date.

Cretophasmomima melanogramma preserves a wing-colour pattern that the describing study interpreted as possible leaf mimicry in the Early Cretaceous Jehol setting; the proposed mechanism remains an anatomical inference.