fossil

Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente

Tuesday, January 19th

Virtual Zoom Meeting
07:30 PM EST

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Fossil insects: new insights from the deep past

Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente

Museum Research Fellow, Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Fossil insects are a remarkable source of paleobiological information on the Earth’s last 400 million years. More than a century and half of paleoentomological research has demonstrated the prevalence that insects had already achieved in ancient terrestrial ecosystems. However, the amount of data –with the potential to impact multiple fields of knowledge– still locked in the fossil record is unfathomable. The present talk is aimed at offering a glimpse into some of the research recently carried out on fossil insects. We will tackle topics as disparate as the evolution of egg-hatching structures in lacewings, the role of 280 million-year-old earwig relatives in cutting-edge bioinspired technologies, or how a unique window into arthropod-dinosaur interactions is being opened by Cretaceous ticks and insects associated with feathered theropod remains. Novel techniques and new fossil localities –particularly those providing exceptional preservation, such as amber deposits– keep narrowing the gap between extant and extinct insects in the way they are studied and the quality of the data extracted from them.

Ricardo received a BSc in Biology from the Univ. of Barcelona (2003–07) and a MSc in Palaeontology (2007–08). Later, he obtained a PhD in Earth Sciences from the Univ. of Barcelona (2008–12). From 2013 to 2017, Ricardo was a postdoctoral fellow at the MCZ, where he led the digitisation/identification efforts on the F M Carpenter collection, one of the premier fossil insect collections worldwide, with about 35,000 specimens. Currently, he is a research fellow at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Ricardo has published more than thirty papers on the paleobiology of fossil arthropods, lectured on palaeontology and entomology, and participated in numerous amber excavations. His research is mainly focused on the study of amber inclusions, particularly those from the Cretaceous, one of the most important periods for the diversification of terrestrial arthropods, linked with the radiation of flowering plants.

In compliance with the COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, we are temporarily suspending all physical meetings and pre-talk dinner until further notice.

CEC meetings are normally held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (5:45 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM). The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 60-minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists.

Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

7:30 PM

Fossil Insects: Learning about the past

MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University

Image 2 Hallucinochrysa diogenesiRicardo Pérez-de la Fuente
Harvard University

Insects are one of the main biological sources of environmental, ecological, and evolutionary information concerning life on land as archived in the geological record from ca. 400 million years ago. Although the study of extinct insects is challenging, it can be surprisingly similar to the study of extant specimens thanks to the discovery of fossils with exceptional preservation, like amber inclusions, and the use of new techniques. As the legacy of an old paleoentomological tradition that started with the classic works of Samuel H. Scudder, co-founder of the Cambridge Entomological Club and its journal Psyche, the MCZ has one of the premier fossil insect collections worldwide, composed of more than 30,000 specimens and 3,000 types. But, what can we really learn from fossil insects? And to what extent are they reliable? Together we will try to answer these and more questions in the forthcoming talk.

The talk is free and open to the public. The meeting is readily accessible via public transportation. Parking is available in the Oxford Street Garage with advance arrangement, as described here, or (usually but not always) at spaces on nearby streets. Everyone is also welcome to join us for dinner before the talk (beginning at 6:00 PM) at Cambridge Common restaurant, on 1667 Massachusetts Ave.

CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (6:00 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM). The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 50 minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists.