Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and paleontology curator Sam Heads described a new genus and species of fossil grasshopper of the extinct family Elcanidae, from the Cretaceous of China. Check out those leaf-like metatibial spurs! View the paper’s abstract here.
Author: ruffatt1@illinois.edu
Researchers describe new fossil leafhoppers
INHS researchers Chris Dietrich and Michael Jared Thomas have described two new extinct fossil leafhoppers—Eoidiocerus emarginatus and Archipedionis obscurus—embedded in 37–44 million-year-old Baltic amber. Both fossils are part of the PRI Paleontology Collection. Read the full paper here: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=21976
Researchers describe new Crato Formation insects
Check out this new paper by Vladimir Makarkin, Sonja Wedmann, and PRI Paleontology Collection curator Sam Heads: A systematic reappraisal of Araripeneuridae (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontoidea), with description of new species from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil: http://ow.ly/iQvP30ikJ2M.
Visit from retired ISGS palynologist
We had a special visitor at the Illinois Paleo Collection last week—Dr. Russ Peppers, a retired researcher from the Illinois State Geological Survey that specialized in the study of fossil pollen and spores.
Researchers describe new species of lacewing
Today we bring you a newly described species of lacewing: Parababinskaia elegans gen. et sp. nov. from the late Aptian Crato Formation of Brazil. The holotype specimen—housed in the INHS Paleontology Collection—was described by Vladimir Makarkin, Sam Heads (INHS), and Sonja Wedmann in a recent issue of the journal Cretaceous Research.
Scientists find world’s oldest fossil mushroom
Roughly 115 million years ago, when the ancient supercontinent Gondwana was breaking apart, a mushroom fell into a river and began an improbable journey. Its ultimate fate as a mineralized fossil preserved in limestone in northeast Brazil makes it a scientific wonder, INHS scientists report in the journal PLOS ONE. Read the press release on […]
Froghopper from Montana
Our team collected many interesting new fossils during fieldwork in Montana last month. Here team member Susan McIntyre poses with a beautifully preserved spittlebug wing she discovered at one of the excavation sites in the Oligocene Renova Formation. Spittlebugs (also called froghoppers) are insects of the superfamily Cercopoidea (order Hemiptera). They feed by sucking juices […]
Preserving a fragile history
ALDER, MONTANA – I drive slowly over the hilly terrain in Fossil Basin and park near the remnants of an old campsite. In the 1950s and early 1960s, botanist Herman Becker camped here and collected fossil insects and plants from the Renova Formation’s paper shales. Go behind the scenes with M. Jared Thomas in this article from the U […]
Drawing insights from ancient plants
ALDER, MONTANA – I’m sitting near the top of our fossil excavation site in southwest Montana, my hammer and shovel ready. I have a perfect view of the mountains. A wall of fossil-laden shale lies before me, and I’m ready to dig in. Go behind the scenes with Danielle Ruffatto in this article from the […]
The fossils of Madison County (Montana)
ALDER, MONTANA – Standing at the foot of the mountains, I look to the east. It’s still early and I have hiked up here alone to gather my thoughts. I can see why they call this “Big Sky Country.” The tree-covered foothills of the mountains behind me give way to rolling scrubland. Stunted trees mark the edges […]