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Ancient Predatory Cockroach discovered in Amber

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J

Jaeger

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A miner in Myanmar recently stumbled across a 100 million year old predatory cockroach trapped in amber. It is a perfectly preserved specimen of an exotic insect, an ancient relative of the praying mantis. The predatory cockroach, called Manipulator modificaputis, has been described by Peter Vršanský from the Geological Institute in Bratislava, Slovakia, and Günter Bechly from the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany, in the journal Geologica Carpathica.

With its long neck able to rotate freely, lanky spineless legs, and elongated forearms, the researchers suggest that the insect actively hunted prey by chasing it down. During the Cretaceous, a few different lineages of predatory cockroaches evolved, of which the only one surviving to modern day is the praying mantis. Found alongside another four individuals of the same species, the amber deposits in Myanmar are especially useful for building up a picture of what the ancient ecosystem looked like.
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http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/predatory-cockroach-discovered-trapped-amber
http://www.natureworldnews.com/arti...historic-cockroaches-mantis-monstrosities.htm
http://phys.org/news/2015-05-dinosaur-times-cockroach-caught-amber-myanmar.html
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150502-ancient-predatory-cockroach-found

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Apparently one of many found in this mine. I love anthropos, but I was not aware the Praying Mantis was a relative of the cockroach. That name though. Manipulator modificaputis. Freaky.
 
K

Kieli

Member
How much would this be worth if it's authenticated via carbon dating or whatever other methods they have?
 
T

Toxi

Banned
frontovik said:
Looks vicious. We should be glad it's extinct, right?
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It's basically a praying mantis, and we seem to do fine with those.
Kieli said:
How much would this be worth if it's authenticated via carbon dating or whatever other methods they have?
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Carbon dating doesn't measure anywhere near that old. They probably know the age of the formation where the amber was found.
Mimosa97 said:
So basically cockroaches evolved from being fierce hunters to lazy-ass parasites who live off human trash ?
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Cockroaches come in a huge variety of forms. There are a few that live in close proximity to humans feeding on our leftovers, but the vast majority occupy different roles. Termites are actually cockroaches, and praying mantises are descendants of insects like these.
 
M

Mimosa97

Member
Toxi said:
Cockroaches come in a huge variety of forms. There are a few that live in close proximity to humans feeding on our leftovers, but the vast majority occupy different roles. Termites are actually cockroaches, and praying mantises are descendants of insects like these.
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Oh wow I didn't do that.

Where do most cockroaches live then if not in or around cities ? And how do they feed themselves ? They hunt ?
 
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