The Earth Story

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

Mosquito in amber Trapped in tree sap in the Miocene and fossilised into amber mined in what is now the Dominican Republic, this 1.2cm mossie is dead proof that these critters have plagued us and our mammalian relatives for millions of years. Loz Image credit: Didier Desouens

Plant seed in amber Amber is fossilised tree resin from a variety of plants over the course of geological history, released in order to seal and sterilise breaches in the bark and keep parasites out in much the same way as our blood clots when our skin is cut. On the way it picks up all sorts of interesting bits and bobs within, mostly plant matter and smaller insects, though occasionally a larger creature will be trapped and then covered by another layer of sap. Here a wind borne seed has been caught in Dominican amber (see http://tinyurl.com/lompw53) aged somewhere between 25 and 40 million years. Loz Image credit: Oregon State University