Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.Ninety million years ago, a beetle with a sharp, scissor-like mouthparts, an elongated head and notably long antenna, roamed alongside dinosaurs in what is now thedating back to the Cretaceous period, about 90 million years ago.
“We know this because the sediments from the deposits have been dated using isotopes that you find on the sediments, particularly those that are called zircons,” said Mnguni, who is a palaeoentomologist — the study of fossil The paper’s authors said that rove beetles, in general, are recognised for their highly mobile lifestyle and versatile habitat preferences, ranging from soil and leaf litter to water margins and even animal nests.
Until now, similar fossils have been found in diverse locations such as China, Russia, Myanmar and England, but the addition of Botswana to this list highlights the Orapa Diamond Mine as a crucial Cretaceous deposit in Africa with a rich biota encompassing various groups of plants and insects, the authors said.
Moreover, this beetle shares some family traits with another group of beetles, suggesting these groups have been related since the Jurassic period, even longer ago.
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