eBay insect fossil is new species

A scientist who bought a fossilised insect on the web auction site eBay for £20 has discovered that it belongs to a previously unknown species of aphid.

Dr Richard Harrington, vice-president of the UK's Royal Entomological Society, bought the fossil from an individual in Lithuania.

He then sent it off to an aphid expert in Denmark, who confirmed the insect was a new species, now extinct.

Dr Harrington and his team thought they had identified the bog down to genus level (one step above species), but they had no idea what species it was. Professor Ole Heie, a fossil aphid expert in Denmark, discovered it had not been described before.

Dr Harrington said he "had thought it would be rather nice to call it Mindarus ebayi." "Unfortunately," he said, "using flippant names to describe new species is rather frowned upon these days." Professor Heie named the new species Mindarus harringtoni after Dr Harrington.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7572052.stm