Richard Harrington, an entomologist in the UK, recently bought an amber fossil on eBay for £20 (about $37) and when it came in the mail he was surprised because he couldn't identify the bug fossil inside. Then he was even more surprised when, after much research and help from experts, he was credited with discovering a new (and unfortunately already extinct) species of aphid.Harrington says he wanted to name the new bug Mindaris ebayi (ha!), but since that didn't go over well ended up going with Mindaris harringtoni instead.
What an awesome discovery! Except for the part that now we've started to drive species extinct before we even know we have them.
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