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back to article 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. fossil_moth An artist's impression of the original colours of the moth. Credit: McNamara, ME et al. PLoS Biology The moth once had yellow, green …

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    1. Chris 244
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      Facepalm

      Hydrogen CYANIDE

      "The fossil's closest modern-day relatives ... produce hydrogen cyanide."

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      1. Turtle
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        *sighs*

        Thank you, I missed that.

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  2. Patrick 8

    Day Glo helped it warn off predators???

    Obviously it did not work out to well if it is extinct now is it?

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Ah but it did...

      > Obviously it did not work out to well if it is extinct now is it?

      Ah but it did. Over the intervening 47m years, that moth has evolved into the day-glo jacketed motorway construction worker.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        Thanks for the heads up.

        I didn't realise that the day-glo jacketed motorway construction worker was toxic to eat. Guess I'll just have to find something else for lunch.

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  3. JockTWizard
    Pirate

    Just add garlic...

    ... and even day-glo jacketed motorway construction workers become palatable.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "“Biology is unpredictable. The moths may have been doing what their relatives are doing today, or they may have been doing something totally different,” she said."

    Translated means "I'm guessing". Typical nonsense expected of the believer in Evolution.

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