EarthSky
Fossilized Kalligrammatid lacewing (Oregramma illecebrosa). Image via James Di Loreto / Smithsonian
Here’s a fossil of a large butterfly-like insect known as a Kalligrammatid lacewing, which has been extinct for more than 120 million years. Scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History used new fossil analysis techniques to learn that these ancient lacewings were surprisingly similar to modern butterflies, which did not appear on Earth for another 50 million years.
