Fossilised fly dating from 100 million years ago named after 'Gangnam Style' dance - Daily Mail

-

A newly-discovered fly fossil has been named after the Korean pop hit 'Gangnam Style' for its resemblance to the popular accompanying dance move.

The fossilised insect, named Buccinatormyia gangnami, was discovered in Jinju City, South Korea.

It looks a lot like a modern wasp or hoverfly - with a black and yellow 'yellowjacket' pattern  - but is twice as large as a common house fly.

It displays the distinctive crossing of the arms in the so-called 'Gangnam Style', as popularised by South Korean pop star PSY in 2012.

The finding suggest that PSY can't lay claim to this move – at least as far back as 100 million years ago. 

The Buccinatormyia gangnami was doing it 'Gangnam Style' before PSY even released his first demo

The Buccinatormyia gangnami was doing it 'Gangnam Style' before PSY even released his first demo

WHAT ARE THE THREE GEOLOGIC ERAS? 

The Mesozoic Era is a the name given to the period from 250 million to 65 million years ago.

The era is divided into three major periods: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.

The new species discovery dates back to the Cretaceous period – 145 million to 66 million years ago.

Mesozoic was the age of the dinosaurs and lasted almost 180 million years.

The Mesozoic Era followed the Paleozoic Era, during which arthropods, molluscs, fish and amphibians all evolved.

Mesozoic was followed by the Cenozoic Era, during which the continents assumed the configuration that we know today. 

The insect was part of the now totally extinct Zhangsolvidae family, which was common during the Mesozoic period – between 250 to 65 million years ago.

'There were several lineages of long-proboscid flies during the Mesozoic, and all they were initially associated with gymnosperms.,' said lead author of the study, Alexander Khramov, a senior researcher at the Borissiak Paleontological Institute in Moscow, Russia.

'Some managed to survive into our time, while others disappeared, probably due to their inability to adapt themselves to angiosperm-dominated worldss.

'Why zhangsolvids were destined to lose, we cannot explain yet.' 

B. gangnami is the first record of Diptera - the order of winged insects commonly known as flies - from the Lower Cretaceous Jinju Formation of the Korean Peninsula, Jinju city in South Korea. 

The species has been described based on six fossil specimens, the largest number of fossils known for a single species of Zhangsolvidae.

The long-proboscid fly Buccinatormyia gangnami from the Lower Cretaceous of South Korea

The long-proboscid fly Buccinatormyia gangnami from the Lower Cretaceous of South Korea

It's the third known species of Zhangsolvidae - with 'extremely elongate antennal flagella', all the better for doing it Gangnam Style. 

It had a 5mm long tubular mouth, known as a proboscis, and a darkish abdomen featuring four pairs of light spots.

While it looked like a wasp, scientists say wasps were rare at the time and have concluded it was either mimicking another unknown insect or wasps had spread further than they previously thought. 

Members of this species were on average twice as large as today's common house fly and were more similar to today's modern wasp or hoverfly, which are part of the vespid family. 

B. gangnami and the related living wasp mimic fly Stratiomys

B. gangnami and the related living wasp mimic fly Stratiomys

However, judging by the fossil record, vespid wasps were rare during the Mesozoic period and B. gangnami most likely mimicked wasps using their long proboscis to detract predators.

Researchers believe it died out because they failed to adapt to changing plant life when non-flowering plants called gymnosperms became less common and flowering plants called angiosperms took over.

The new species has been described in Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology.  



https://ift.tt/2QfBATo

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All In The Family: Maine Mother & Son Charged in Massive Drug Bust

-
Image
corso dog :: Article Creator Woman Hospitalized After Attack By 2 Dogs At Same Edmonton Home Where Boy Died: Lawyer UPDATE: On April 15, 2024, the City of Edmonton provided an update on the fatal attack. It said that prior to the deadly incident on April 1, "the city had no lawful basis to remove the dogs from the home." The city added that "all prior complaints about the dogs involved in this incident were investigated thoroughly and appropriate action was taken in accordance with the applicable legislation." The city also said a review found that its staff "acted appropriately in accordance with our standard practices and in compliance with the relevant legal constraints given the nature of past complaints and reports." A woman was hospitalized after being attacked in February by two large Cane Corso dogs at the same home where an 11-year-old boy was killed last week, the woman's lawyer told Global News. "I...
Read more

Rare Frogs And Illegal Drugs - Palisades Hudson Financial Group

-
Image
Colombian conservationist Ivan Lozano has hit on a brilliantly promising strategy to protect his country’s rare and endangered amphibians. His plan: Flood the market with them. Lozano is not hunting rare frogs in Colombia’s Andean forests. He is raising them himself and selling them at prices designed to undercut poachers and smugglers. If he can raise the frogs cheaply enough, and in large enough numbers, he might manage to drive down the market price to the point that poachers no longer find it worthwhile to harvest and smuggle the creatures onto the black markets. Lozano told The Associated Press that his company also encourages collectors to breed their own frogs. Picture yourself as a poacher. If the government toughens the legal penalties and steps up enforcement, you will shrug your shoulders; legal risks are a basic cost of doing business. Since the demand for your product already exists among foreign collectors and other buyers, tougher enforcement merely reduces supply a...
Read more

Burn scars, winter storms threaten rare and endangered species in San Gabriel Mountains - The Bakersfield Californian

-
Image
LOS ANGELES — Up until a few weeks ago, the West Fork of the San Gabriel River was one of the most abundant wildlife habitats in Los Angeles County, a secluded and rugged area defined by its steep peaks, lush canyons and mixture of rare and endangered species. Recently however, a team of federal biologists and forest rangers was aghast when it visited the stream following the Bobcat fire, which has burned more than 115,000 acres in the heart of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Terrain that once resembled a High Sierra granite gorge now looked like ground zero after a nuclear explosion, and the usually clean mountain air was sharp with the stench of smoke. Particularly unsettling were the bare and ashen slopes that were now primed to dissolve under pounding winter storms. A heavy mudslide, experts said, could reverse decades of conservation efforts by inundating the last outposts for such federally protected species as the Santa Ana sucker fish and Southern California m...
Read more