Fossil primates and fossil & living insects

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> >>From the abstract: "Here we present a new statistical method, based on
an
> estimate of species preservation derived from a model of the
diversification
> pattern, that suggests a Cretaceous last common ancestor of primates,
> approximately 81.5 Myr ago, close to the initial divergence time inferred
> >from molecular data.  [...]"

Hm. Will be interesting to see what that "model of the diversification
pattern" is, and if it takes the empty early Paleocene world into account,
among other things. 81.5 Ma is a bit much IMHO.

> [...] the discovery of a new order of *living* insects - the
> Mantophasmatodea - found lurking on the mountains of Namibia, southern
> Africa. [...]
>
>
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0328_0328_TVstickinsect.html

This site says _fossil_ Mantophasmatodea were discovered _first_ -- record
holder for being discovered alive so soon after being discovered in amber!
:-)

"Zompro first suspected that he was seeing a new insect order while
examining fossils of stick-like insects sent to him by amber collectors in
Germany. After finding similar specimens in more recent collections at
museums in London and Berlin, he set out to determine whether the
insect-which had been presumed extinct-might still be found in the wild.
        The existence of the insect was confirmed last month on a field trip
to Namibia."

"The oldest known specimen of the newly identified insect was encased in a
40-million-year-old chunk of golden amber.
        Over a period of six months, Zompro received nearly two dozen
specimens that led him to conclude he had discovered a new order, but one
that he thought was now extinct. One amber nugget contained a perfectly
preserved adult specimen. Another fossil had captured the insect in the
cannibalistic act of eating another.
        'It's a big insect and difficult to overlook. That's what is so
amazing' about the finding, Zompro said.
        Sifting through entomology collections at the British Museum of
Natural History in London, he found an adult male insect from Tanzania that
looked remarkably like the specimens entombed in amber. A few weeks later,
he came upon a female specimen of the insect at Berlin's Museum of Natural
History."