Scientists at a British
university have revealed 3D images of 300 million-year-old insects.
By placing fossils in a CT
scanner, and taking over 3,000 X-rays from different angles, the scientists
were able to create 2,000 slices showing the creatures in cross-section.
From these slices, the
researchers created 3D digital reconstructions of the fossils which allowed
them to learn more about their lifestyle, biology and diet.
One of the insects,
characterised by a large number of sharp spines, is a species and genus which
no longer exists.
The other is an early
predecessor of one of the great survivors of the insect world, the cockroach,
and is one of the best preserved examples of this age ever seen by insect
palaeontologists.
Writing in PLoS One journal,
the University of Manchester scientists said that judging from its "well
preserved mouthparts" it survived by eating rotting litter from the forest
floor.
Both are members of a group
called the Polyneoptera - which includes roaches, mantises, crickets,
grasshoppers and earwigs.
However, analysing the exact
relationships of the insects would be difficult to work out said Russell
Garwood because insects have a habit of dramatically changing appearance as
they develop.
"The most dramatic change
is seen in insects like butterflies, which change from a larva, to chrysalis,
to adult," said Dr Garwood, co-author with Professor Philip Withers of the
report.
"But relatively few
people look to the fossils try and work out how such a life cycle may have
evolved.
"We are hoping that work
like this will allow us to better understand the biology and development of
these early insects, and how major innovations may have come about.
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