Fossil leaf insect found according to Nature, vol. 445, p128, 11 Jan 2007. Scientists at the University of Bonn have found the “first example of a fossil ‘leaf insect’ from the fossil record” in the Messel formation in Germany, dated as 47 million years old. The fossil is “remarkably well preserved” and “resembles modern leaf insects of the Phasmatodea order which includes stick insects.” The insect has been named Eophyllium messelensis.
Editorial Comment: A fully formed creature that can be classified alongside living leaf insects is just what you would expect to find as a result of insects having been created as separate kinds that reproduced after their kinds, regardless of how and when they were entombed in the fossil record. Remarkably well preserved fossils occur when living organisms are rapidly and deeply buried, so they don’t decompose. (Ref. arthropods, fossilisation, species)
Evidence News 9 February 2007