National Geographic - UK (2022-02)

PHOTOS: MARTIN QVARNSTRÖM (BEETLES); JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK (SHREW);
EDWIN REMSBERG, VW PICS/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES (TREES)

SOME VERY OLD OBJECTS come in exquisite containers—gilded

sarcophagi, carved chests—and others, in less appealing packages.

The newfound beetle Triamyxa coprolithica is among the latter. A

team of scientists reported discovering the species in a coprolite,

aka fossilized feces. The team used synchrotron microtomography,

a powerful x-ray technique, to scan an ancient dropping that the

scientists had unearthed in Poland. Inside the 230-million-year-old

scat, nickel size in diameter, were partial and whole specimens of

the tiny beetle (above). Study lead author Martin Qvarnström says

that to see 3D scans of the bugs, “it’s like they’re becoming alive in

front of you.” With even some of the delicate legs and antennae

intact, the remains were preserved well enough to identify the bee-

tles as a previously unknown, now extinct species—the first time an

insect species has been described from a coprolite. The researchers

theorized that the dung came from Silesaurus opolensis—a dino-

saur relative up to eight feet long—and hope their discovery will

encourage more stool sampling by paleontologists. —HW

PALEONTOLOGY

SCAT SCAN DISCOVERY

FOUND IN TRIASSIC FECES: A NEW BEETLE SPECIES

REFORESTATION

New forests

benefit from

coffee’s jolt

Just like us, forests

move a bit faster

when there’s cof-

fee on hand. An

experiment in a

Costa Rican rain-

forest covered

deforested land

with pulp that’s a

by-product of the

coffeemaking pro-

cess, to see how

it affected forest

regrowth. After

two years, the

pulp-covered

forest plots were

doing much better

than untreated

ones—giving coffee

producers a new,

sustainable alter-

native to dumping

their waste.

—SARAH GIBBENS

DISPATCHES

FROM THE FRONT LINES

OF SCIENCE

AND INNOVATION

The saving of the shrew

Unlike seasonal hibernators, the Etruscan

shrew—one of Earth’s smallest mammals—

must eat heartily year-round to stay

alive. But the insectivore may have a

different way to conserve energy

in winter: It shrinks a section of

its brain by more than 25 per-

cent. The lost cells regrow by

summertime. —HICKS WOGAN

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