article_snippet: The fossil, discovered in a mine in Kachin Province of northern Myanmar, pushes back the earliest direct evidence for insects caring for The fossil, discovered in a mine in the Kachin Province of northern Myanmar brood by more than 50 million years.
article_snippet: The insect Wathondra kotejai is thought to date from the mid-Cretaceous period and became encased in sap from a tree that over time turned into Amber.
article_snippet: The findings may help to offer an explanation for the early diversification of scale insects - small limpet-like suck saping insects that are common pests on plants today.
article_snippet: The emergence of flowing plants and ants are thought to have been crucial for the rapid evolution of many new inspect species but were not present when scale insects began to evolve.
article_snippet: The insect was found encased in amber in a mine in the Kachin Province of northern Myanmar (shown above)
article_snippet: Wathondara kotejai is an ancient ancestor this sap-sucking scale insect that are now common garden pests .
highlights_snippet: Sap-sucking scale insect called Wathondra kotejai was preserved in amber .
  
highlights_snippet: Sap-sucking scale insect called Wathondra kotejai was discovered  in a mine in Kachin Province, northern Myanmar .
  