Boffins discover prehistoric moth's dayglo green warning

Boffins have reconstructed how a 47-million-year-old moth fossil looked while alive: a psychedelically-coloured insect whose wings both camouflaged it and warned away predators.

An artist's impression of the original colours
of the moth. Credit: McNamara, ME et al. PLoS Biology

The moth once had yellow, green, blue and brown colouring that helped it blend into leaves and grass when it was resting, but advertised its nasty taste and poisonous nature when the wings were spread.

Yale University palaeobiologist Maria McNamara and her team analysed the fossils of moths that had been preserved in the Messel oil shale in Germany and determined that tiny scales on their wings had once given off these iridescent colours, according to Nature.

The fossil's closest modern-day relatives are the forester moths thatthe ground that the district judge gave no explanation at all.


5
The government is correct, however, that the reasons proffered by the district judge were insufficient to justify a downward departure.   We divine two separate but related reasons in the district judge's statement, one which appears on the face of the statement and one which seems fairly to be inferred.   First, it is obvious that the judge took into account O'Brien's ties to the community and his history of community service.   The PSI indicated that O'Brien, a musician, had played benefit concerts and had a history of association with charitable causes in the Austin area.   O'Brien's allocution was devoted in part to describing his longstanding ties to the area and his