Giant Jurassic-era insect rediscovered outside Walmart in Arkansas

The giant lacewing – Polystoechotes punctatus – was abundant in the age of the dinosaurs but has disappeared from large swaths of North America. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons

A giant Jurassic-era insect missing from eastern North America for at least half a century has been spotted clinging to the side of a Walmart big box in Arkansas.

The identification of the giant lacewing – Polystoechotes punctata – in an urban area of Fayetteville, Arkansas, sent scientists into raptures. The discovery of a species that was abundant in the age of the dinosaurs but which was thought to have disappeared from large swaths of North America has stoked speculation that there may be entire populations tucked away in remote parts of the Ozark mountains.