Oldest Full-Body Insect Fossil Found by Magdalena Rosova

Probably the oldest imprint of a prehistoric insect, which was made while the insect was still alive, was discovered.

American researchers found the imprint at a rocky outcrop close to a big shopping center in North Attleboro, Massachusetts. The imprint was made by an insect nearly three inches long and the researchers believe it is about 312 million years old.

The discoverer, Richard Knecht, a student of geology at Tufts University in Massachusetts, said it is not a dragonfly but something related, maybe a mayfly.

The fossilized remains of a wing of the same insect was found two weeks ago.

In the imprint we can see the thorax and abdomen and six legs as well. The insect may have moved slightly with two legs which created drag marks that hardened into stone.

Paleontologist Jake Brenner said it was not usual that a flying insect make such a deep impression in sediment. "We don't have many good body fossils from this time period with these early flying insects. The level of detail is really unseen in continental deposits," he added.

The insect lived at the time when insects and amphibians were common and reptiles were just at the beginning of their come to prominence.

Most of the fossilized remains of insects are only part of body like a wing of a leg. The imprint of whole body is something that scientist had only imagined.

The rock with the imprint broke off in Knecht`s hand as he was trying to discover an outcrop where footprints of an ancient amphibian were found the day before. It was definitely a lucky find.

related story: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,438223,00.html

by Magdalena Rosova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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edited by Beata Biskova