New species of insect discovered on eBay
A new species of insect has been discovered ... on eBay.
Scientists used to embark on research trips in the hope of discovering strange new animals, not so for Dr Richard Harrington who simply logged on.
The vice-president of the UK's Royal Entomological Society paid £20 for the fossilised insect on the online auction site from an seller in Lithuania.
Measuring 2-4mm the insect is encased in a tiny 40-50 million-year-old piece of amber.
Having a hunch it was something special Harrington sent it to an aphid expert in Denmark, sure enough it has now been confirmed a new, albeit extinct, animal.
The expert has been able to work out that the insect would have fed on a tree called Pinites succinifer and lived over 50 million years ago.
The bug has been named 'Mindarus harringtoni' after the scientist who will go down in history having recorded the easiest discovery of a new species.
He considered calling it 'Mindarus ebayi' but didn't think it would go down too well in the scientific community.
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