Mindarus harringtoni is a species of aphid

Aphid

Aphids, also known as plant lice and in Britain and the Commonwealth as greenflies, blackflies or whiteflies, are small sap sucking insects, and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Aphids are among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions...

. The insect was discovered when Richard Harrington, a scientist and vice-president of the Royal Entomological Society of London

Royal Entomological Society of London

The Royal Entomological Society of London is devoted to insect study. It has a major national and international role in disseminating information about insects and improving communication between entomologists....

, won an auction on eBay

EBay

eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

 for a fossilized specimen, later to discover it was an unknown species. The fossil was bought from an individual from Lithuania. The insect itself is 3–4 mm (0.118110236220472–0.15748031496063 ) long and was encased in a piece of amber .

The fossil was sent off to Ole Heie, an aphid expert in Denmark, who confirmed the insect a new species, now extinct. The bug has been named Mindarus harringtoni after Harrington, who first considered naming it Mindarus ebayi after the site he won it on.

The fossil is now housed in the Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...

.

Mindarus harringtoni is thought to have fed on a tree called Pinus succinifera which is itself now long since extinct.