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(When I went to UA -just short of the Jurassic period – we called these bugs mosquitoes – DD)
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(MSN) Michael Skvarla, director of Penn State University’s Insect Identification Lab, found a mysterious large insect outside the Fayetteville super chain’s building – an experience he remembers “vividly.”
“I saw this huge insect on the side of the building,” he said in a press release from Penn State. “I thought it looked interesting, so I put it in my hand and did the rest of my shopping with it between my fingers. I got home, mounted it, and promptly forgot about it for almost a decade.”
Little did he know that years later, the giant flying bug was a “super-rare” Jurassic-era insect.
A zoom call lesson The scientist originally thought the bug he plucked from the Walmart’s exterior was an antlion. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, the insects have:
Fragile, drab damselflies Elongated bodies Four intricately veined wings mottled with browns and black Clubbed or curved antennae about as long as the combined head and thorax Enter the fall of 2020: Skvarla was teaching an online course on insect biodiversity and evolution and, during a Zoom call, he realized it wasn’t what he originally thought.
The insect, he learned, was a true conversation piece…