Alienopterus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of insects}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange/linked|Albian|Cenomanian}}

| image = Alienopterus.png

| image_caption = Artistic restoration

| genus = Alienopterus

| parent_authority = Bai et al., 2016

| species = brachyelytrus

| authority = Bai et al., 2016

| subdivision_ranks = Other species

| subdivision =

• {{extinct}}A. imposter Vršanský et al., 2025

| synonyms =

• {{extinct}}A. burmanicus?{{cite journal | first1 = Marie K. | last1 = Hörnig | first2 = Joachim T. | last2 = Haug | first3 = Carolin | last3 = Haug | year = 2017 | title = An exceptionally preserved 110 million years old praying mantis provides new insights into the predatory behavior of early mantodeans | journal = PeerJ | doi = 10.7717/peerj.3605 | pmc = 5527957 | pmid=28761789 | volume=5 | page=e3605 | doi-access = free }} Poinar & Brown, 2017

}}

Alienopterus brachyelytrus is an extinct genus of insect from the Cretaceous period of Southeast Asia and East Asia. The type species A. brachyelytrus was described from the Burmese amber (Cenomanian) of Myanmar, while the other species A. imposter was described from the Jinju Formation (Albian) of South Korea.{{cite journal |last1=Vršanský |first1=Peter |last2=Lee |first2=Soo Bin |last3=Sohn |first3=Jae-Cheon |last4=Vršanská |first4=Lucia |last5=Jang |first5=Jun-Hyeok |last6=Nam |first6=Gi Soo |title=Jinju cockroaches |journal=Amba projekty |date=May 15, 2025 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1-151 |url=https://geo.sav.sk/files/vrsansky/VrsanskyEtAl_2025.pdf}} It was the first known member of the order Alienoptera until 2018, when the second and third members of the order, Caputoraptor elegans, and Alienopterella stigmatica were described.{{Cite journal|author1=Ming Bai |author2=Rolf Georg Beutel |author3=Weiwei Zhang |author4=Shuo Wang |author5=Marie Hörnig |author6=Carsten Gröhn |author7=Evgeny Yan |author8=Xingke Yang |author9=Benjamin Wipfler |year=2018 |title=A new Cretaceous insect with a unique cephalo-thoracic scissor device |journal=Current Biology |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=438–443.e1 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.031 |pmid=29395923|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal|last1=Kočárek|first1=Petr|title=Alienopterella stigmatica gen. et sp. nov.: the second known species and specimen of Alienoptera extends knowledge about this Cretaceous order (Insecta: Polyneoptera)|journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology|year=2018|pages=1–10|issn=1477-2019|doi=10.1080/14772019.2018.1440440|volume=17|issue=6|s2cid=90147082}} A. brachyelytrus has characters that are shared with cockroaches and mantids and is thought to represent either the sister taxon, or an ancestor to mantids.{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.gr.2016.02.002|title=†Alienoptera — A new insect order in the roach–mantodean twilight zone|journal=Gondwana Research|volume=39|pages=317–326|year=2016|last1=Bai|first1=Ming|last2=Beutel|first2=Rolf Georg|last3=Klass|first3=Klaus-Dieter|last4=Zhang|first4=Weiwei|last5=Yang|first5=Xingke|last6=Wipfler|first6=Benjamin}}

Alienopterus has shortened forewings and functional hindwings capable of flight that are attached to pads as in the Mantophasmatodea. The foreleg has a femoral brush which is a characteristic of Mantodea. The mouth points downward from the body axis and has biting mouthparts suggestive of a predator. The antenna is long and there are large compound eyes as well as three ocelli on the head (which is never found in the Blattodea).