Foes forever

INSECTS, today make up the vast majority of living organisms. Although insects appeared almost 350 million years ago, they really began to diversify only after flowering plants came on the scene about 150 million years ago. The catalytic role played by flowering plants in the diversification of insects stems from the myriad ways in which plants offer themselves as food for insects. A rather elegant example of this is the case of leaf mining insects - larvae of some beetles,

Mammoth mollusc

The largest and one of the most well preserved fossil specimens of an ammonite has been discovered on Seymour Island off Antarctica. Belonging to the class Molluscs, these animals have soft bodies like snails encased in calcareous shells (Discovery Vol 16, No 9). Called Diplomoceras ntsudmum, this animal belonged to the uncoiled form of ammonites. Discovered by Purdue University's (US) William Zinzineister, it measures more than 12 It in length when straightened out. The Purdue team plans to submerge a model of the shell to observe the flow of water through it.

The greatest of 'em all

If the Jurassic Park was to be filmed again, the story would not revolve around T-rex (Tyrannosaurus rex), but around Gigantosaurus mrolini. The latest addition to the dinosaur fossil&, G carolini is the largest carnivorous dinosaur to walk the earth. The remains were discovered by fossil hunter Ruben Carolini in the province of Neuquen, northern Patagonia, Argentina. The 8-tonne dinosaur measures more than 40 feet.

Simian saga

ASIA, not Africa, was the home of the first simians. A.group of Chinese scientists working with the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Sciences claim that they have discovered evidence at Shanghuang town in eastern Jiangsu province which pushes the history of simians back by 8 to 10 million years compared with the fossils found in north Africa in the late 1960s. The scientists have unearthed 10,000 fossils in a quarry in Shanghuang, which they are convinced are 45 million years old. The fossils belong to 63 species of mammals that fall into 12 orders and 38 families,

South Africa/Anthropology

Phillip Tobias, head of the anthropology department at Witwatersrand University, with his discovery: primate bones dating from 3.5 million years ago, marking a crucial transition stage in foot structure between apes and humans. Prehensile feet enabled the pre-human Australopithecus to climb trees efficiently as well as walk on its 2 feet. Tobias believes these bones indicate the presence of, biped hominids in southern Africa

SOUTH AFRICA

They may have rid themselves of the shackles of the oppressive apartheid regime, but freedom apparently still manages to elude the Blacks of South Africa. They have, in fact, been invaded and held captive by a dead lier foe: the AIDS virus. According to a recent study conducted by the health officials in South Africa, the number of p6ople infected$ with Hiv has increased 10-fold since 1990. Today, about 1.2 million South Africans - or nearly 8 per cent of the, entire population - are in the throes of this distase, By the year 2000, at least 8 million are likely to

Bees before blossoms

A NEW discovery has challenged the age- old belief that flowers came before bees. While the earliest angiosperms, or flowering plants, came into existence about 120 million years ago, the oldest known fossil of a bee is a specimen nearly 80 million years old, found trapped in amber from what is now the city of New Jersey in the us. But a recent discovery suggests that bees may have been around as long as 220 million years ago.

Grave trade

Dinosours, like Vincent Van Gogh, found few takers in their lifetime. Now removed from the face of the earth...again, like Van Gogh...they are raking in millions. For the last 2 years, locals in northeastern Thailand are stripping unguarded excavation sites and selling fossilised dinosaur bone as the best cureall since rhino horns. They earn up to $1,000 in a single night -- much more than the locals' average annual income. Much has already been lost, and this loot can mean that complete ruin of the dinosaur graveyards.

Oldest remains

Geologists have found in Mexico the filssil remains of a multicellular organism which is believed to have lived about 15 million years before the oldest known. The organism, resembling small jellyfish, lived an estimated 590 million years ago, said the lead researcher, Mark McMenamin of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

The jigged jaw Puzzle

A FOSSILISED jaw of Homo erectus-modern man's closest ancestor has been traced in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, could be the oldest ever found outside Africa. It has been generally believed that Africa is the evolutionary home of humans, with the Homo erectus developing from proto-human species. The new finding could mean that Homo erectus moved out of Africa much earlier than previously thought.