Chinese scientists on June 7 announced the earliest evidence of insect swarming behavior in fossils of 180 million years.
A team from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) and the Guangxi Institute of Geological Survey found 180-million-year-old fossil fragments containing 381 early plankton specimens. history – belongs to a never described species called Jurassephemera zhangi – in the Shiti Formation of Xiazhou City, Guangxi Autonomous Region, southern China.
In the journal report Geology and Historical Biology On June 7, author Wang Bo from NIGPAS emphasized that this is a very rare finding, providing the earliest evidence of swarming behavior in insects.
“Our new discovery shows that complex insect swarming behavior has been established in the early Jurassic Jurassephemera zhangi,” said Wang.
Fossils provide the earliest evidence of swarming behavior in insects. Image: NIGPAS
All 381 plankton individuals in the Shiti fossils are preserved complete with attached bodies, appendages and wings. This revealed that they were not transported long distances in the water after death.
The plankton species that survive today spend most of their lives in the aquatic environment as larvae, and the adults usually live only a few hours to a few days. During their brief maturation period, the males congregate in dense flocks. Females will actively fly to find a mate and mate, then choose a suitable place to lay eggs.
Ministry of Ephemeral (Ephemeroptera) plays an important role in the aquatic food chain. In the larval stage, they consume aquatic plankton and become food for fish and other predators.
As adults, they rise out of the water and contribute to the terrestrial food chain. After mating and dying, their carcasses become fertilizer for plant communities around streams and rivers.
Doan Duong (Follow Xinhua/EurekAlert)
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
