natural history survey Archives

Rare insect fossil reveals 100 million years of evolutionary stasis

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers have discovered the 100 million-year-old ancestor of a group of large, carnivorous, cricket-like insects that still live today in southern Asia, northern Indochina and Africa. The new find, in a limestone fossi…

Researchers discover giant crayfish species right under their noses

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Two aquatic biologists have proven that you don’t have to travel to exotic locales to search for unusual new species. They discovered a distinctive species of crayfish in Tennessee and Alabama that is at least twice the size of…