A 324 million-year-old fossil at a San Diego museum is upending what we know about natural history

Fossil reclassified as earliest insect

A 324 million-year-old fossil stored for decades at the San Diego Natural History Museum has been reclassified from a crustacean to an insect, a change curators say is seismic for the study of life's history.

Key points Fossil reclassified as earliest insect
  1. A 324 million-year-old fossil stored for decades at the San Diego Natural History Museum has been reclassified from a crustacean to an insect, a change curators say is seismic for the study of life's history.
  2. Cambridge doctoral student Erik Thelka examined the specimen and found insect features including an ovipositor and a terminal filament, work that reached the journal Nature and The New York Times.
  3. The museum has now given the fossil its own public exhibit in Balboa Park, where visitors can see it on the lower level.
Read the full story Fossil reclassified as earliest insect
Reported by

San Diego Union-Tribune

sandiegouniontribune.com

San Diego County, CA

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