High school student cracks open rock during class — and discovers new species in Japan
A high school student in Japan broke open a rock as part of a classroom activity. Inside was a “large” fossilized creature that turned out to be a new species.
Kouta Yatagai, a student at Keio Senior High School, cracked open the rock during science class, according to a Dec. 12 news release from Keio University. The block of stone had been provided by the Konoha Fossils Museum as part of a decades-long educational initiative to bring geology and paleontology into the classroom.
Inside Yatagai’s rock was the fossilized remains of a “large” scarab beetle, according to a study published Nov. 30 in the journal Paleontological Research.
Yatagai’s teacher recognized the importance of the find and gave the fossil to the study’s co-authors Hiroaki Aiba and David Král for further study, the researchers said.
Aiba and Král identified the fossil as a new species of extinct animal: Ceratophyus yatagaii, or Yatagai’s scarab beetle.
Yatagai’s scarab beetle is considered “large,” measuring about an inch in length, the study said. The fossil was split in half but “nearly completely preserved.” The beetle was likely an “earth-boring” insect that fed on the feces of other animals.
Researchers said they named the new species after the student who discovered it.
The new species was identified by its teeth and other subtle physical features, the study said.
Other species of Ceratophyus beetles are still around but do not live in modern-day Japan, researchers said. Instead, these insects live in central Asia, around the Mediterranean and in California.
Finding the fossil of an extinct Ceratophyus beetle in Japan suggests that these insects lived in the region about 300,000 years ago, the news release said.
Keio Senior High School is in Yokohama City, an area on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from Keio University.
This story was originally published December 13, 2023 at 12:09 PM with the headline "High school student cracks open rock during class — and discovers new species in Japan."
