This is an amazing and interesting story since it happened recently (last month). Buying fossil on eBay has getting more interesting nowadays since it replaces the "real" work that a collector has to do to get a specimen and at the same time discovering a new species??. Unexpectedly, this man:Dr Richard Harrington, Vice President of the Royal Entomological Society and Deputy Science Director at the Centre for Bioenergy and Climate Change, Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, acquired the insect, an aphid, for £20 from eBay which then turns out to be a new species. His colleague Dr Colin Denholm initially spotted the item and made the purchase from an eBay member in Lithuania.
The fossilised insect is encased in Baltic amber approximately the size of a Smartie and this aphid (also known as plant lice, are small plant-eating insects, and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Aphids are among the most destructive insect pests on Earth).
This "eBay" Aphid is thought to be dated back to around 35 to 50 million years ago and thought to be originated from tropical climate.
The aphid is now housed in the Natural History Museum and a full description of the insect has been published in the Royal Entomological Society’s journal, Antenna.
Dr Harrington said: “I wanted the aphid to be named Mindarus ebayi but flippant species names are frowned upon these days! I’m delighted to have a work of nature named after me – even if it is an extinct fossil!”
There you go, if you are interested with what aphid is and how this little creature is so destructive, you can always just google it with the keywords aphid and for futher reading about this eBay species go to this site Rothamsted Research
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