[Adam Khor]

Bat flies evolved along with bats, and live as their parasites; their bodies are flattened like those of a flea to crawl in the bat's fur. These insects only leave their hosts to mate, and this is what this particular one was probably doing when it became stuck in tree sap in what would one day become the Dominican Republic (wonder if InGen ever got their hands on one of these?)
This discovery suggests that bat flies have been around for at least 20 million years; it is the very first bat fly fossil ever found.

[Galvasean]

National Geographic's take on it:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...imals-science/

Before he became a specialist in ancient diseases inside equally ancient bugs, Poinar had worked on attempting to extract DNA from insects trapped in amber—work which author Michael Crichton has acknowledged as part of his inspiration for Jurassic Park.

But no ancient bats will be reconstructed from this specimen, even if it were possible.

"As far as I'm concerned," Poinar said, "this specimen is so rare that we wouldn't want to attempt to try it."

aww

[Adam Khor]

Originally Posted by Galvasean

National Geographic's take on it:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...imals-science/



aww

:S Bummer