Dinosaur age damselfly named after David Attenborough

This video from Britain says about itself:

Dragonfly Named After Attenborough! | #Attenborough90 | BBC

6 May 2016

To celebrate Sir David Attenborough’s birthday one of the world’s most foremost dragonfly experts wanted to give him a special gift.

Another video which used to be on YouTube used to say about itself:

15 August 2017

Damselfly thought to be 100 MILLION years old named after Sir David Attenborough

TV naturalist Sir David Attenborough was last night said to be delighted after a prehistoric insect was named in his honour. Prof. Jarzembowski said: “Dragonflies in amber are extremely rare and the recent discoveries by my Chinese colleagues are a new window on the past. “It is tradition in taxonomy – the naming of a new species – to contact the person concerned. “Sir David was delighted because he is not only interested in the story of amber, but also a president of the British Dragonfly Society.”

Lead author Daran Zheng from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, commented: “Mesosticta davidattenboroughi is quite unique because we have uncovered a new species.” The naming of the species was revealed in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.

Mesosticta davidattenboroughi is just the latest species to be named after Sir David whose wildlife documentaries have enchanted the world. Others include a carnivorous plant, a butterfly, a tiny spider, a Peruvian frog and a Namibian lizard. Among the prehistoric species named after him are a Mesozoic reptile, a fossilised armoured fish and a 430 million-year-old crustacean.

From ScienceDaily:

David Attenborough gains new species namesake

August 16, 2017

A new species of damselfly from the Cretaceous period has been named after the iconic naturalist and TV presenter Sir David Attenborough.

The new discovery, described in detail in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, was made in the Hukawng Valley of Kachin Province in Myanmar. The fossil was found in a piece of mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. The full scientific name for the new species, belonging to a group more commonly known as shadowdamsels, is Mesosticta davidattenboroughi. Researchers decided to name the new species after David Attenborough because of his long-standing appreciation of dragonflies, and to celebrate his recent 90th birthday.

…

The fossil itself is extremely well preserved as it is encased in yellow transparent amber and includes a complete set of wings. With the aid of photo technology, researchers were able to digitally enhance and build a clear three-dimensional picture of the new species, showing that it differed from previously described fossils, notably in the shorter wing length.

Lead author Daran Zheng from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, commented, “Mesosticta davidattenboroughi is quite unique because we have uncovered a new species and it confirms the previous attribution of Mesosticta to the Platystictidae. It is the first fossil group of modern platystictid damselflies and documents the appearance of Platystictidae as early as mid-Cretaceous.”

The discovery of insect remains in amber is not uncommon, however this particular family of damselflies are much less frequently found and their fossil record is poor compared to many other families making the discovery especially unusual.

Mesosticta davidattenboroughi joins a long list of animals which have been named after Sir David Attenborough, including a weevil and fossil species of a plesiosaur and a fish.

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the HKU Seed Funding Program for Basic Research.