The Earth Story

Amber fossils demonstrate ecological continuity Lizards in amber are very uncommon, since they are usually strong enough to not get stuck in the gooey tree resin, but small species do get entrapped and fossilised and a recent set of finds has enriched our understanding of a poorly understood evolutionary radiation of species between 20-15 million years ago and the stability of this aspect of an ecosystem over a very long time, in fact up to the present day. The finds were preserved in Dominican amber from the Miocene.

Amber fossils demonstrate ecological continuity Lizards in amber are very uncommon, since they are usually strong enough to not get stuck in the gooey tree resin, but small species do get entrapped and fossilised and a new set of finds has enriched our understanding of a poorly understood evolutionary radiation of species between 20-15 million years ago and the stability of this aspect of an ecosystem over a very long time, in fact up to the present day. The finds were preserved in Dominican amber from the Miocene.

Doubly trapped insect Sometimes a fossil preserves the last moments of an animal's life. In this particular case, dating from a mere 20 million years back, an insect was first caught in a spider's web (the dark thread) by a droplet of glue (the bubble) deposited on the web from the spider's abdomen during construction. Somewhat later the web, droplet of glue and unfortunate insect were all engulfed in low viscosity resin from a tree. The resin gradually fossilised, losing many of its volatiles, and turned into the piece of Dominican amber (see http://tinyurl.com/lompw53) that records this aeons old unique moment in life's eternal struggle for individual survival. Loz Image credit: Mila Zinkova via EPOD https://epod.usra.edu/blog/2020/01/encore-spider-webs-in-dominican-amber.html

This collector takes you through part of their fossil collection, with a bunch of Eocene aged spiders trapped in Amber.

Fossil Flower Although they’re hugely important to understanding species evolution and diversity, flowers are difficult to preserve in the fossil record; they have no hard parts and they make up only small portions of most flowering plants. That’s why rare fossils like this one are important – this was a flower trapped in Amber.

Carnivorous plant fossil In an amber mine near the Russian city of Kaliningrad, scientists from the German University of Göttingen found the world’s oldest example of a carnivorous plant set in amber.

Preserved color in Cretaceous Insects These magnificent insects are about 99 million years old. They were originally trapped in the sap of a tree in what is today Myanmar; that sap hardened into amber that was eventually buried and preserved until it was found and examined today. These insects, particularly a few wasps, are particularly spectacular as they preserve some of the original color of the specimens.