Eumorbaeshna adriankini is a new species of dragonfly discovered in the quarry Owadów-Brzezinki, place compared to one of the most famous paleontological sites, Solnhofen. Generic name commemorates the discoverer of the site, Dr. Adrian Kin, who died in June 2012.
The article presenting the discovery was published in the journal "Acta Palaeontologica Polonica" (58, 2013). The authors are Gunter Bechly of the Natural History Museum in Stuttgart and Dr. Adrian Kin of the Geoscience Friends Association PHACOPS. The name of the species was given after the death of the Polish scientist, in an effort to commemorate him.
Dragonfly was found in the Upper Jurassic layers dating back around 148 million years.
"The uniqueness of the described fossils is that this is the first described Upper Jurassic insect of the family Eumorbaeschnidae found in Poland. Similar species were previously known only from the Solnhofen site in southern Germany" - commented for PAP Dr. Błażej Błażejowski of the Institute of Paleobiology PAS.
The researcher added that the site Owadów-Brzezinki should be regarded as an entirely new "taphonomic window" to the Late Jurassic organic world, showing a unique, unknown record of the evolution of organisms.
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Dr. Adrian Kin died in June 2012 at the age of 33. He was president, the leader and founder of the Geoscience Friends Association PHACOPS. He organized and participated in more than 1,200 geological, paleontological, and natural science expeditions in Poland and abroad.
The most interesting discoveries of the researcher include identifying in the fossil material of rows of trilobites wandering the paths - arthropods from the Upper Devonian (350 million years ago) in the limestone quarry "Kowala" in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains. Dr. Adrian Kin was the first to demonstrated the phenotypic plasticity (variation of the organism under the influence of environmental conditions) of fossil cephalopods - ammonites. He discovered of the 75 million years old largest (1.18 m) ammonite known in Poland.
In April 2012, he announced another discovery: fossil treasure dating back around 148 million years, located in the quarry Owadów-Brzezinki near Sławno (Łódź province, poviat Opoczno). It included the remains of the first pterosaur (flying reptile) discovered in Poland, the first Jurassic dragonfly wing found in Poland, a number of horseshoe crabs and fish. Many of the fossils from the Late Jurassic strata represent the genera and species new to science. It is a unique paleontological site in the world. Also here, Dr. Kin found a fossil record of the first Polish tsunami.
The researcher collected fossils all his life. Negotiations are currently underway with the Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute, for taking over the collection by the Institute’s Geological Museum in Warsaw and presentation of objects in a separate room bearing the scientist’s name.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Szymon Zdziebłowski
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