New fossil insect species points to a Canada-Australia land route 50 million years ago

[Judi Lynn]

Better understanding of such fossils lets us peer into the geological past.

by Alexandru Micu June 16, 2020

A tiny fossil insect found near the city of Kamloops, British Columbia, points to a possible land connection between Canada and Australia.


Current relatives of this species live exclusively in Australia, the team explains, suggesting the possibility of a former connection between the two landmasses. The fossil, which the team describes as an insect from the “split-footed lacewing” family, is estimated to be 50 million years old.

Old ties

“These fossils are rare,” says Vladimir Makarkin of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Vladivostok, corresponding author of the study describing the fossil. “This is only the fourth one found from this time-span world-wide, and it’s the most completely preserved. It adds important information to our knowledge of how they became modern.”

The discovery is the latest in a series of fossil finds that are pointing to a Canada-Australia connection, the team explains. Furthermore, it raises some interesting questions regarding the global movement of animals and how it is impacted by shifts in climate and the position of continents over time

The split-footed lacewing family is very poorly documented, although we do know that it survived for at least 66 million years after the dinosaurs went extinct. The fossil’s identity — a new genus and species, Epinesydrion falklandensis — was determined as belonging to the split-footed family from the hallmark network of veins covering its wings.

More:
https://www.zmescience.com/science/fossil-bridge-canada-australia-13524/