CBS NEWS 4 March 2015:
A moth with iridescent gold and purple wings that dates back to at least 40 million years ago has been discovered in Australia.
About the size of a small coin, scientists are calling Enigmatinea glatzella a living dinosaur. Using DNA analysis, an international team described their find in the journal Systematic Entomology.
It is the first time since the 1970s that a new family of primitive moths has been identified anywhere in the world.
The enigma moth lives on Kangaroo Island of South Australia's coast in Southern Cypress pine trees, a very ancient element of our flora going back to the supercontinent Gondwana. The lives of these adult moths are short. They emerge from their cocoons, mate, females lay their eggs, and then die - all in one day....
1 comment:
What a shame that Australia had to wait for over six months to have a Minister for Science, and only then as a by-line to Minister for Industry.
We used to proclaim that Australia was "the clever country". I fear that we have to rely on being the "lucky country" once again.
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