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A research team led by Simon Fraser University reveals how fossil dragonfly relatives have been misidentified due to their bizarre similarity.
For over 150 years, researchers have been wrongly classifying a group of fossil insects to be damselflies, who are the familiar cousins of dragonflies that bat around wetlands feeding on mosquitoes.
While they are strikingly identical, these fossils have strangely shaped heads, which scientists have always assigned to distortion arising as a result of the fossilization process.
(Photo : Pixabay)
Distinctive Shape of the Insect
Nevertheless, a team of scientists from Simon Fraser University (SFU), led by paleontologist Bruce Archibald has found out they are not damselflies at all, but symbolize a major new group of insects that is intimately similar to them.
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IMAGE: Wing of the new species Okanagrion hobani, from the McAbee fossil site in British Columbia, a damselfly-like insect of the new suborder Cephalozygoptera. view more
Credit: Copyright Zootaxa, used by permission.
For more than 150 years, scientists have been incorrectly classifying a group of fossil insects as damselflies, the familiar cousins of dragonflies that flit around wetlands eating mosquitoes. While they are strikingly similar, these fossils have oddly shaped heads, which researchers have always attributed to distortion resulting from the fossilization process.
Now, however, a team of researchers led by Simon Fraser University (SFU) paleontologist Bruce Archibald has discovered they aren t damselflies at all, but represent a major new insect group closely related to them.
Paleontologists discover major new insect group after solving 150-year-old mystery - SFU News sfu.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sfu.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.