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Partial Jurassic Neuroptera Insect with Beautiful Wing Preservation


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Here is my recent acquisition from Inner Mongolia of China in the Jiulongshan formation, more commonly and famously known as Daohugou, which dates to middle Jurassic around 165 mya. The part and counterpart partial insect fossil appears to be a neuropteran, perhaps related to the family of Grammolingiidae (a group of lacewings that include “Jurassic butterflies”, so named on account of their huge spotted wings). Only one of the wings and a small part of another were found in the fossil. The wing, however, is slightly more than two inches (5cm) long. The head and thorax but not the abdomen are intact.   

I am sharing these images because I think the fossilization is remarkable. Dense tissue like the head and thorax are harder to interpret than the thin wing. But wow, the details that can be seen under the scope are amazing! No ambiguity as we sometimes see with dragonfly fossils!

Neurop 2piece.jpg

Neurop scale CRP.jpg

Neurop thor prt wing left CR2.jpg

Neurop thor prt wing right CR.jpg

Neurop head left CR.jpg

Neurop thorax left CR.jpg

Neurop thorax right CR.jpg

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Not only wing veination but smaller details like perforations throughout that presumably housed sensory hairs. Or preserved pigmentation and clear ovals in the wing that or may not be part of the insect’s wing anatomy.

Neurop wing margin right CR.jpg

Neurop wing zm 2 right CR.jpg

Neurop wing right CR 2.jpg

Neurop wing zm right CRg.jpg

Neurop wing pig rect left CR.jpg

Neurop wing pig rect right CR.jpg

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The preservation of such fine details, especially on the wings, is simply extraordinary. Congratulations beautiful piece without a doubt.
I have a question. Do you use any macro or microscope photography technique for the images?

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On 3/19/2023 at 11:46 AM, joaoarguello3 said:

Do you use any macro or microscope photography technique for the images?

For these pictures, I held my cellphone up to the eyepiece of my dissecting (stereoscopic) microscope, then cropped the images. So, low tech. Works best with flat subjects. Slowly approaching macro with image stacking for things like amber, but not there yet.

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what a fantastic wing preservation, wonderful

and real

I remember your post about the fakes (Fake Cretaceous Insect Fossils from China are now on sale at a show near you - Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications - The Fossil Forum), so its always necessary to have a very close look on the wings and the body

but yours is great!!!

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Wow, the fossilization looks amazing. A nice example of what a real one should look like. Simply impossible to imitate, such beautiful details!

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Well, one good partial neuroptera wing deserves another! Here 65 million years later and a good deal further south in Burma is a burmite wing I acquired that demonstrates similar geometry in the wing border venation as well as interesting pigmentation (including the dark circles). This wing's owner might also belong to the same family. Complete specimens with large ornate wings are very rare and highly coveted.

burmite neuroptera wiing 2 CRPADJ.jpg

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