HR Excellence in Science
Date: 21.10.2022

Scientists described a new mayfly species from the Eocene Baltic amber

Mayflies are one of the oldest pterygote insects, with relatively rare remnants in sedimentary rocks and fossil resins. The team of scientists from the Czech Republic, Spain, Poland and Germany have presented the first description of the fossil mayfly species using Micro-CT.

Inclusions of mayflies in fossil resins are a unique source of information on their evolution and diversity in the past. Thus, the discovery of new complete and well-preserved mayfly fossils is very important. Nevertheless, some specimens embedded in the fossil resins may not be well visible or accessible for investigations using a standard set of optical equipment. Therefore, Micro-CT scans and 3D image reconstruction were applied, which allowed confirming the systematic placement of the fossil specimen by visualizing diagnostic key characters otherwise hidden by a cloud of turbidity in the resin around of mayfly adult. Using this approach, a first description of the fossil mayfly species from the Eocene Baltic amber was realized.

 

 

X-ray projection images resulting from the scanning process were further processed with Bruker microCT’s Skyscan software, and 3D images as well as video reconstruction were obtained.

 

Publication

Godunko R.J., Alba-Tercedor J., Grabowski M., Rewicz T., Staniczek A.H. (2022) Cenozoic origins of the genus Calliarcys (Insecta, Ephemeroptera) revealed by Micro CT, with DNA barcode gap analysis of Leptophlebiinae and Habrophlebiinae. Scientific Reports 12 : article number: 15228.

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-18234-4

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-18234-4

 

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