Palaeontology

'Alien' insect is unlike any ever seen before

By T.K. Randall
January 30, 2017

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) The alien-looking insect, which is believed to date back over 100 million years, was discovered perfectly preserved within a piece of amber that had been unearthed by miners in Myanmar.

"This insect has a number of features that just don't match those of any other insect species that I know," said Professor George Poinar from Oregon State University."With its long neck, big eyes and strange oblong head, I thought it resembled E.T. I even made a Halloween mask that resembled the head of this insect. But when I wore the mask when trick-or-treaters came by, it scared the little kids so much I took it off."

There are 31 existing orders under which all known insect species are catalogued, but now because this new insect - Aethiocarenus burmanicus - doesn't appear to fit under any of them, an entirely new order ( Aethiocarenodea ) has had to be established in order to categorize it.

A more detailed look at the discovery and analysis of the new species can be viewed below.


Source: Christian Science Monitor

Tags: Insect, Amber