INHS Paleontologist Sam Heads, Jared Thomas, and Yinan Wang found a new pygmy locust embedded in amber. In a paper released today, the species was described and named Electrotettix attenboroughi, in honor of Sir David Attenborough. Attenborough narrated a video about their research. To find out more, read this article by the U of I News Bureau.
Category: organism type
INHS entomologists comment on fossil stick insects
Following the discovery of fossil stick insects by a team of Chinese and French scientists, INHS Paleontologist Sam Heads and Illinois State Entomologist Chris Dietrich were contacted by National Geographic to comment. Heads told National Geographic that the discovery of fossilized plant mimicking insects, “is yet more tantalizing evidence of early insect-plant coevolution.”
Ancient ‘fig wasp’ lived tens of millions of years before figs
INHS Paleontologist Sam Heads found an ancient fig wasp that pre-dates any known fig trees. According to Heads, “This is a tiny parasitic wasp, it’s the smallest fossil wasp found in this particular deposit and it’s the oldest representative of its family. More importantly, it’s possible that this wasp was fig-associated, which is interesting because it’s Early […]
Portrait of a killer: Arilus cristatus, the wheel bug
Arilus cristatus, the wheel bug, is a truly impressive insect and one that I was fortunate enough to encounter today on my way into work. I came across this spectacular individual crossing the street outside our building this morning and collected it so I could take some photos later in the lab. Wheel bugs are a […]
Just published: A new fossil cricket of the genus Proanaxipha in Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic
The following paper was published today in the journal ZooKeys: Heads SW, Penney D, Green DI (2012) A new fossil cricket of the genus Proanaxipha in Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Pentacentrinae). ZooKeys 229: 111–118, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.229.3678. [pdf] In the paper we describe Proanaxipha madgesuttonae, a new species of pentacentrine cricket from Early Miocene Dominican amber. […]