Calling Bug People!

[I_gotta_rock 422]

I bought this bit of Madagascar copal a year ago, then finally got a decent microscope to see the bugs this week. They are less than a mm each. Now I'm stumped. I am a certified *modern* naturalist. I know something about insects. This one fits all the defining characteristics of an adult insect - probably Coleoptera - except that I only see four legs and may or may not have had antennae at some point. The heads are not very clear at any angle. On the bottom view, there are nubs at the end of the abdomen that *could* be legs, but that is the wrong place for insect legs. On the side views, it looks like there might be legs folded backward, as is common with some beetles, but the underside view also does not show any attachment points where there might have been legs that broke off. Any paleo-entomologists out there to point out what I am clearly missing in these pictures?

[Micah 61]

I have no idea, but definitely cool! Lol 

[Jerry W. 145]

Yeah man, I think I know what that is.  You don't need no paleo-entomologists, you just need someone who stays up late and watches movies.

Last week I watched this old sci-fi movie from the 60's called "5 Million Years To Earth".  In it, some scientists were brought in during a subway excavation in Jolly Ol' London where some large strange bugs were found - some kind of weird grasshopper looking things - but who could have guessed these were freakin' alien bugs bent on the destruction of mankind!  After seeing the photos I'm attaching from the movie, I'm sure you will agree they are probably the same thing as in the photos you submitted to the forum.  If you agree that perhaps you found some alien bugs with telepathic powers like those in the movie, do not, I repeat, DO NOT try to sell your specimen on E-Bay!  Smash it with a hammer and bury it in your back yard today.  We, your fellow Earthlings, are counting on you to do the right thing! 

[I_gotta_rock 422]

@Jerry W.

[abyssunder 5,574]

I'm not an expert in bugs, but your specimen looks nice to be that, in one of the possible stages. Just a guess, nothing more...

[I_gotta_rock 422]

1 minute ago, abyssunder said:

I'm not an expert in bugs, but your specimen looks nice to be that, in one of the possible stages. Just a guess, nothing more...

Their being a younger instar occurred to me, but modern insects don't get their wings until they are complete adults.