Ananova:

A scientist has discovered a previously unknown insect - on eBay.

Dr Richard Harrington paid £20 for the fossilised insect encased in amber, reports the Daily Telegraph.

He thought it would make an interesting curio - but it turned out to be a long extinct and previously unknown species of aphid.

It has now been named after Dr Harrington, vice-president of the UK's Royal Entomological Society, who specialises in aphids.

He bought the fossil on the internet auction site from a man in Lithuania.

Because he couldn't identify it himself Dr Harrington sent it to fossil aphid expert Professor Ole Heie in Denmark. He confirmed that it was from a previously undescribed species.

The 3-4mm insect is encased in a 40-50 million-year-old piece of amber about the size of a small pill.

"I had thought it would be rather nice to call it Mindarus ebayi," said Dr Harrington. "Unfortunately using flippant names to describe new species is rather frowned upon these days."

Instead, Professor Heie named the new species Mindarus harringtoni after Dr Harrington.

"It's not uncommon to find insects in amber... but I'm not sure that one has turned up on eBay that has been undiscovered before. It's a rather unusual route to come by," said Dr Harrington.