The beetle was found in a piece of Baltic amber.
An international group of scientists discovered in a piece of Baltic amber a new a species of insect named Calliarcys antiquus. It belongs to the order Ephemeroptera, according to Phys.org.
The specimen was discovered by Arnold Stanicek of the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History in amber, which is estimated to be 35-47 million years old. With the help of Javier Alba-Tersedor from the Department of Zoology at the University of Granada, the insect was studied and described in detail.
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Conifers and some legumes secrete resin in response to bark damage. Insects often get into this resin, and even after millions of years they can be found in hardened specimens called amber. Amber deposits are located in many regions of the Earth, but one of the richest is in the Baltic Sea region.
The discovered sample was completely transparent, but the insect itself was surrounded by translucent areas that hindered the process of its identification. But it was possible to study the sample with the help of microtomography (micro-CT).
Micro-CT is a method of obtaining a three-dimensional image using X-rays. The principle of operation of this method is the same as that used in medicine during conventional computer tomography. But micro-CT enables research on a smaller scale and with a much higher resolution. In this way, the internal structure of extremely small objects can be revealed.
Alba-Tursedor was able to completely reconstruct the insect, including those areas that would otherwise be impossible to observe due to the opacity of the amber. It turned out to be a new species of the genus Calliarcys.
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Scientists then compared the new species to existing members of the genus, including DNA comparisons.
