A scientist claimed to have encountered an unusual insect at a Walmart in Arkansas, United States, which he misidentified for years before realizing it was a rare specimen from the Jurassic period.
Michael Skvarla encountered an unusual bug in 2012 during his routine shopping trip at an Arkansas Walmart, according to a Penn State University news release. The beetle’s wingspan was over two inches. At first he thought the insect was an ant, but years later Skvarla realized it was a “super-rare” colossus from the Jurassic era.
The discovery was made when Skvarla showed the beetle to pupils in an online lecture. He claimed that the insect had not been seen in eastern North America for 50 years. Skvarla, now director of the insect identification lab at Penn State University, revealed that the insect’s large wingspan was the clue that led him and his students to what they found.
“We watched what Dr. Skvarla saw under his microscope, and he’s talking about lynxes and then he stops a little bit,” said Codey Mathis, a doctoral student in entomology at Penn State.
“We all realized together that the insect wasn’t what it was labeled as, and was in fact a super-rare giant lurker. I still remember the feeling. It was so comforting to know that the thrill wasn’t waning, it wasn’t a miracle.” Here we made a real discovery in the middle of an online lab course,” added Mathis.
According to a press release, Skvarla and other scientists later performed a molecular analysis of the giant beetle’s DNA to determine that it was Polystoechotes punctata, or giant lacewing.
Giant lacewings have been spotted from Alaska to Panama, but have not been seen in the eastern part of the continent for 50 years, an extensive collection of records of the species has revealed.
It’s still a mystery how the insect got to Arkansas after it was thought to have disappeared from the region. Skvarla also added that there may be relict populations of this specimen yet to be discovered. His discovery highlighted the fact that there is a “rare, surviving eastern population of giant lacewings that have escaped detection and extinction”.
The scientist now hopes that his discovery may lead to the discovery of other things. “Findings like this really highlight that even in a run-of-the-mill situation, there’s still a huge amount of discovery to be made about insects,” he said.
