We have been hearing about the discovery of new species of dinosaurs until now, but now scientists have hinted at a similar strange thing that was found during the time of the dinosaurs.
As per CNN, scientists recently discovered the existence of a new type of firefly named Flammarionella hehaikuni that lived during the late Mesozoic era, which illuminated the sky at night.
Mesozoic Era:
The Mesozoic Era is the era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about 252 to 66 million years ago.
Everything you need to know about the discovery:
The discovery comes from a fossil of an ancient firefly species first discovered in 2016, preserved in 99-million-year-old Burmese amber from northern Myanmar.
The study published in the journal of Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences revealed that this beetle, the second Mesozoic era firefly species is recognized as female.
Lead study author Chenyang Cai, said in a statement, “The fossil helps bridge gaps in understanding the evolutionary history of the lampyroid beetles (the beetle family fireflies belong to) and shows that key traits, like abdominal light organs, have remained consistent since the mid-Cretaceous.”
“How cool is it that dinosaurs once saw fireflies flying at dusk?” he added.
The study further revealed that the newly found firefly species belonged to the Luciolinae, a subfamily that includes 450 species because of the special light organ on abdomen.
Now, scientists hope that more firefly fossils from the Mesozoic era will be discovered to understand these species more clearly.
