Science News Desk – A giant Jurassic-era insect that had been missing from eastern North America for at least half a century has been found stuck to the side of a Walmart box in the US city of Arkansas. The identification of a giant lacewing in Arkansas as ‘Polystochotes punctata’ has scientists perplexed. This species, once abundant in the dinosaur era, was believed to have disappeared from large areas of North America, although its appearance on a Walmart box has led to new speculation that the entire population of the species lives in the remote Ozark Mountains. May be living Can be hidden in the areas of
This week, Michael Squarla, director of the Insect Identification Laboratory, identified the insect as the giant lacewing in a report published on the university’s website. Squirla said he identified the giant insect in 2012 when he went to collect milk. Finding it interesting, he brought it home with him and forgot about it for a decade. In a co-authored paper recently published in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, Skvarla stated that he had found specimens incorrectly labeled as “antillion” in his personal collection, an insect with similar characteristics.
However, Squirla correctly identified it in 2021 when he was giving online classes during the Corona lock down. The giant lacewing, or Polystoicotes punctata, is a large insect from the Jurassic period with a wingspan of about two inches. It has been found for the first time since disappearing mysteriously from eastern North America in the 1950s. Scientists suspect that the extinction may have been caused by pollution, artificial light, non-native predators, or a number of other factors.