Ancient Species of Mayfly Had Short, Tragic Life
ScienceDaily (June 26, 2011) — About 100 million years ago, a tiny mayfly had a problem.
This ancient mayfly, trapped 100 million years ago in amber, is a new species named Vetuformosa buckleyi. (Credit: Photo by George Poinar, Jr., courtesy of Oregon State University)
Like most adult mayflies, she only had that one day to live anyway, so there was no time to waste. She took her mating flight, got fertilized, and was about to lay her eggs when something went horribly wrong. She got stuck in some oozing tree sap and died, preserved for all time in the magic of amber. There would be ho hatchlings.
It was a pretty rude ending to what was already going to be a short adulthood. But her personal tragedy proved fortunate for scientists. The tiny specimen -- just described by an Oregon State University researcher as a new subfamily, genus and species of mayfly -- has helped to shed further light on the ecology of the distant past. And at least she didn't get eaten by a fish.
"Understanding the ecology and history of mayflies is important, in part because they are one of the most important fish foods in the world," said George Poinar, Jr., a professor of entomology at OSU and one of the world's leading experts in the use of amber to study ancient life forms.
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Read more here/Leia mais aqui: Science Daily
In press/No prelo:
George Poinar. Vetuformosa buckleyi n. gen., n. sp. (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae; Vetuformosinae n. subfam.), a new subfamily of mayflies in Early Cretaceous Burmese amber. Historical Biology., 2011
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NOTA CAUSTICANTE DESTE BLOGGER:
Eita seleção natural preguiçosa, sô! 100 milhões de anos para fazer alguma coisa evolucionária, mas as efeméridas teimam em continuar sendo efeméridas. Uau, mas aí a evolução é mais inteligente do que você, idiota: equilíbrio pontuado e depois: Abracadabra, voilá, um helicóptero, oops outra espécie de animal voador.
Chamam a teoria geral da evolução, NOTA BENE, teoria geral da evolução de ciência. Eu chamo de alquimia.
Chamam a teoria geral da evolução, NOTA BENE, teoria geral da evolução de ciência. Eu chamo de alquimia.
Fui, nem sei por que, pensando que as efeméridas é que estão certas: vivem um só dia, mas vivem intensamente...
