29-million-year-old grasshopper nest found at John Day Fossil Beds
By Logan Bagett on Wednesday, August 16th, 2023 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News More Top Stories
JOHN DAY – John Day Fossil Beds National Monument’s Chief Paleontologist Dr. Nicholas Famoso was on KJDY’s Coffee Time to talk about some exciting findings at the park.
Dr. Famoso explained that thanks to the help of a grad student from UC Berkeley, as well as advanced Micro-CT scan technology, they were able to identify a 29-million-year-old insect nest found in the park to be that of prehistoric grasshoppers:
“My co-author, when he was looking at the nest, was looking for similarities with other modern nest. The most similar nest that he was able to find was one from India—an Indian Grasshopper—it’s a rice grasshopper. That was probably the closest thing that we could find.”
Dr. Famoso said that species of grasshopper likes to make their nests near water, which would be consistent with the findings of the nest in the park. He said the specimen is a unique find:
“I mean, this is the first time, I think, a nest quite of this quality has ever been described. As far as I know, it’s only known from what’s inside the boundaries of the [John Day Fossil Beds] National Monument, so it’s extra-special…”
Listen to the full podcast here:
