Newly discovered insect fossils are so small they can barely be seen by the human eye but have been preserved in an 'extraordinary' way.
Newly discovered insect fossils are so small they can barely be seen by the human eye but have been preserved in an 'extraordinary' way.
Co-author Dr Uwe Kaulfuss, of the University of Göttingen in Germany and former postdoctoral fellow in the University of Otago's Department of Geology, discovered the tiny fossils during an excavation at Hindon earlier this year. "The new genus and species described in our study reveals for the first time that whitefly insects were an ecological component in ancient forests on the South Island."
"The fact that they are still in life position on the leaf is incredible and extremely rare. These little fossils are the first of their kind to be found in New Zealand and only the third example of such fossil puparia known globally. Professor Lee says while most people are interested in big fossils -- large charismatic ones -- most animals in forests are insects.
Other small fossils new to science have also been found at Otago sites this year, including the first dancefly, cranefly, phantom midge and marsh beetle fossils from New Zealand. These studies show the extent of Otago's scientific collaborations around the world with co-authors of these papers coming from Germany, France, Spain, Poland and the USA.Until a few years ago, the butterfly known as the southern small white could barely be found north of the Alps.
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