PORTAL:PALEONTOLOGY DYK 20

An Anochetus dubius preserved in amber

... that the first described fossil of Anochetus dubius is surrounded by a brownish bacterial growth?
... that amber fossils of ants carrying the extinct mealybug genus Electromyrmococcus represent the oldest record of symbiosis between mealybugs and Acropyga ants?
... that Aquila bullockensis, an extinct species of bird, is the oldest known true eagle from Australia?
... that the extinct hazel species Corylus johnsonii (fruit pictured) resembles three modern hazels found in China?
... that the recently discovered Eocypselus rowei may be ancestral to both hummingbirds and swifts?

... that the Cretaceous terrestrial crocodilian Araripesuchus is known from five distinct species, two from Africa and the other three from South America?
... that Plesiopithecus, a fossil primate from the late Eocene in Egypt, closely resembles the aye-aye of Madagascar and raises questions about the evolutionary history of lemurs?
... that the extinct moth Epiborkhausenites is noted for having very similar color patterning to the living species Tubuliferola josephinae and Hofmannophila pseudospretella?
... that the extinct amphibian Cryobatrachus (restoration pictured) was discovered in the Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica?
... that fossils from the Paleocene-age Cerrejón Formation in Colombia are the earliest record of Neotropical rainforests?

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