Largest fossil cockroach found!!

Largest Fossil Cockroach Found
Wed Nov 07 2001 11:23:37 ET

UPI-- Scientists Wednesday said they had discovered the largest fossil cockroach ever found -- a giant bug more than 3 inches long that lived 300 million years ago, some 55 million years before the first dinosaurs roamed the earth.

The extraordinarily well-preserved insect was discovered along with hundreds of fossils of other animals and plants in a coal mine in northeastern Ohio nicknamed "the 7-11 mine" due to its location between Ohio state routes 7 and 11.

The researchers said they hope this treasure trove will help scientists better understand ancient life and how the Earth's climate has changed throughout history.

"We get a rare glimpse here, a kind of window to the past, of life not usually preserved," said geologist Cary Easterday of Ohio State University in Columbus. "It tells us a lot of information about what survives and what doesn't."

Easterday presented his findings at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.

According to the fossil findings, the 3.5-inch long cockroach had freshwater sharks for neighbors in the rivers and lakes that dominated Ohio during what scientists call the Carboniferous period.

"Back then, Ohio was more similar to Bangladesh or India, where the Ganges is coming off the Himalayas and carrying all this water and sediment," Easterday said in an interview with UPI. "We had the same situation in Ohio back in the Carboniferous, when the Appalachians were about the size of the Himalayas. It was quite a creepy time, with roaches everywhere. The roaches were definitely dominant."

The cockroach was very delicately preserved. Among the fine features visible in the fossil are veins in the insect's wings and fine bumps covering the wing surface. The roach's legs and antennae, folded around its body, are also evident, as are mouth parts.

"Something unusual about the chemistry of this ancient site preserved organisms without shell or bones with incredible detail," Easterday said. "Normally, we can only hope to find fossils of shells and bones because they have minerals in them that increase their chances for preservation."

The fossil helps demonstrate the incredible success of the cockroach, as its body plan has remained mostly the same for hundreds of millions of years.

"They haven't changed much in 300 million years," Easterday commented. "There are some subtle differences that a scientist might detect
between cockroaches then and cockroaches now, but they're more similar than different."

While the roach is more than twice as big as the typical American cockroach, Easterday added modern roaches in the tropics are known to grow 4 inches or bigger.

"The largest roaches live today," he told UPI.

 

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