海角大神

Researchers have discovered a very old 鈥� and very rare 鈥� bug.聽

The strange-looking creature has long legs and antenna similar to many insects that roam the Earth today. But this critter has a bizarrely oriented, triangular head that is reminiscent of Stephen Spielberg's "E.T."

Researchers from found the specimen preserved in a piece of amber found in the mines of Myanmar. Entomologists believe the insect lived 100 million years ago, roaming bark or fungi in the age of the dinosaurs.

Even more intriguing, two Oregon State University researchers say the bug is unlike anything entomologists have ever seen before. In their paper published in December in the journal Cretaceous Research, co-authors George Poinar Jr. and Alex Brown say the new insect, which they named Aethiocarenus burmanicus, warrants its own scientific order.

鈥淭his insect has a number of features that just don鈥檛 match those of any other insect species that I know,鈥� said Dr. Poinar, an emeritus professor of entomology at Oregon State University鈥檚 College of Science and co-author of the study, . 鈥淚 had never really seen anything like it. It appears to be unique in the insect world, and after considerable discussion we decided it had to take its place in a new order.鈥�

The rarity of A. burmanicus is especially noteworthy in light of the sheer number of insects already identified. According to the Smithsonian encyclopedia, there are more than , which represents about 80 percent of the world鈥檚 species.

Despite almost one million different types of insects living on Earth, all fit into the 31 pre-existing orders. A. burmanicus brings that number up to 32.聽Many scientists believe that the still-undiscovered insect species .

Orders, which supersede family, genus, and species in taxonomic rank, can group many similar species. Some well-known examples of orders include primates, bats, and beetles.聽

鈥淭he distinguishing feature of聽Aethiocarenus burmanicus聽sp. et gen. nov. is its unique head, the dorsum of which is shaped like an isosceles right triangle with the hypotenuse at the top and vertex positioned at the base of the neck,鈥� write Poinar and his co-author Alex Brown 鈥淲hile insects with triangular-shaped heads are common today, the hypotenuse of the triangle is always located at the base of the head and attached to the neck, with the vertex at the apex of the head.鈥�

And with its eyes so far apart on its triangle-shaped head, Poinar believes 础别迟丑颈辞肠补谤别苍耻蝉听may have been able to see 180 degrees with a turn of the head.

鈥淭he strangest thing about this insect is that the head looked so much like the way aliens are often portrayed,鈥� said Poinar. 鈥淲ith its long neck, big eyes and strange oblong head, I thought it resembled E.T.鈥澛�