Researchers have determined that a giant bug found at a Walmart store in Fayetteville, Ark., is a record-setting Jurassic-era insect, according to a Monday press release from Penn State.
“The Polystoechotes punctata or giant lacewing is the first of its kind recorded in eastern North America in over 50 years – and the first record of the species ever in the state,” it said.
Although the giant lacewing was once widespread across the continent, it “was mysteriously extirpated” from eastern North America by the 1950s. With this specimen identified as a giant lacewing, researchers think there could “be relic populations” of it that have no yet been discovered.
Michael Skvarla, director of Penn State’s Insect Identification Lab, found the inspect in 2012, when he was a doctoral student at the University of Arkansas.
“I remember it vividly, because I was walking into Walmart to get milk and I saw this huge insect on the side of the building,” he said. “I thought it looked interesting, so I put it in my hand and did the rest of my shopping with it between my fingers. I got home, mounted it, and promptly forgot about it for almost a decade.”
At first, Skvarla misidentified the bug. While he was teaching an online course based on his personal insect collection in 2020 he finally realized what it really was.
“As he went to demonstrate the features of a specimen he had previously labeled an ‘antlion,’ Skvarla noticed that the characteristics didn’t quite match those of the dragonfly-like predatory insect,” Penn State explained. “Instead, he thought it looked more like a lacewing. A giant lacewing has a wingspan of roughly 50 millimeters, which is quite large for an insect.”
Students in the class started to work on identifying the insect and managed to identify it – live on Zoom.
“We were watching what Dr. Skvarla saw under his microscope and he’s talking about the features and then just kinda stops,” said Codey Mathis, a doctoral candidate in entomology at Penn State. “We all realized together that the insect was not what it was labeled and was in fact a super-rare giant lacewing. I still remember the feeling. It was so gratifying to know that the excitement doesn’t dim, the wonder isn’t lost.”
“It was one of those experiences you don’t expect to have in a prerequisite lab course,” Louis Nastasi, a doctoral candidate studying entomology at Penn State. “Here we were, just looking at specimens to identify them and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, this incredible new record pops up.”
After the class ended, Skvarla and his colleagues performed molecular DNA analyses on the specimen to confirm the discovery. According to the professor, the giant lacewing’s disappearance from North America is a still a mystery.
The fact that a giant lacewing was spotted in the urban area of Fayetteville, Arkansas may reveal a larger story about biodiversity and a changing environment, Skvarla explained. He said that explanations vary for the giant lacewing’s disappearance from North America — and it still largely remains a mystery.
Penn State said scientists have hypothesized that it could be due to the increasing amount of artificial light and pollution of urbanization, suppression of forest fires, introduction of non-native predators, and introduction of non-native earthworms, “which significantly altered the composition of forest leaf litter and soil.”
“The fact that this insect was spotted in a region that it hasn’t been seen in over half a century tells us something more broadly about the environment,” Skvarla said.
Since the insect was discovered in Arkansas, the specimen could have come from the Ozark Mountains, which are considered a “biodiversity hotspot,” by scientists. Giant lacewing specimens have been found in “a huge geographic range, from Alaska to Panama, and include multiple ecoregions in both eastern and western North America.”
It is still unclear how this giant lacewing made a trip to Walmart in a region where it has disappeared from for decades, though it is possible that it was attracted to bright lights.
“It could have been 100 years since it was even in this area – and it’s been years since it's been spotted anywhere near it” said Skvarla. The next closest place that they've been found was 1,200 miles away, so very unlikely it would have traveled that far.”
Researchers believe that it is one of “a rare, surviving eastern population of giant lacewings that evaded detection and extinction.”
“A finding like this really highlights that even in a run-of-the-mill situation, there are still a tremendous number of discoveries to make about insects,” said Nastasi.
Skvarla’s giant lacewing find is now at the Frost Entomological Museum at Penn State.
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