New species of sawfly described
Yale College junior Leah Mock did fieldwork in a remote quarry in western Colorado that exposes the 50-million-year-old Green River Formation.
Junior Yale student Leah Mock conducted fieldwork in a Colorado quarry that holds 50-million-year-old fossils from the Green River Formation. While examining specimens, she discovered a new species of sawfly named Anoplonyx rasnitsyni, identified through its unique wing vein and antennal characteristics only visible under high magnification.
Mock and her colleagues from the Paris Institut published their findings in the journal Mesozoic. Sawflies are close relatives of wasps, bees, and ants. Mock's detailed study of the Green River Formation specimens has contributed to our understanding of the diverse lifeforms that existed during the Eocene Epoch, when the area was a series of lakes between mountain ranges.
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