Scientists sorting through 70,000 droplet sized pieces of amber from the hills of Northern Italy found microscopic, fossilized mites. These wormlike, sap-sucking mites are now one of the oldest creepy-crawlies found preserved in amber yet, researchers say. Insects, spiders and other buglike creatures make up a joint-legged group known as the arthropods. The earliest members of the ancestors of flies and wasps originated near the start of the Triassic period about 250 million years ago, but much remains unknown about the evolution of these and many other groups of insects during this distant era.
Here is a picture of the fossilized mite. This photo was taken through a microscope because the mites are too small to be seen with just your eyes.
Here is a picture of the fossilized mite. This photo was taken through a microscope because the mites are too small to be seen with just your eyes.
Amber is a rock that is formed when tree sap solidifies and hardens over long periods of time. Imagine going outside to look at tree sap here in Boston. Do you think that there might be some insects like the ones we are familiar with that are stuck in tree sap now? Absolutely! The same thing happened to these mites 250 million years ago! The mites were doing there thing, but then they became stuck in tree sap. That tree sap hardened and was covered in rock to form part of a larger sedimentary rock. The great part about animals or plants whose bodies are trapped in amber is that their structures are preserved more completely than in any other type of fossil, so scientists can learn a lot about creatures that are preserved in amber.
Check out the video below for more information about the mite:
Check out the video below for more information about the mite:
Pretty cool huh?
You can read more about this awesome fossil find at the links below. But, before you check out any of those links, I want to leave you with this thought about the amazing amount of work that important scientific discoveries require. The scientists on this team spent several months scrambling through the Italian Alps (mountain range) collecting the samples of amber. They then spent 2 years (2 years!) looking at each one of 70,000 samples of amber. In all those 70,000 droplets of amber, the scientists found 3 fossils (2 mites and a fly about the size of a fruit fly). So, please remember that discovering important information or doing important things takes a lot of hard work!
Links for more Information about the mite fossils and fossils preserved in amber:
- News Article from MSNBC.
- Another News Article, this one from the BBC.
- Here's an article about an amazing discovery that scientists made of feathers found in amber. The feathers belonged to some species of dinosaurs and early types of birds. When we talk about evolution, these are some very important fossils showing how feathers developed!
You can read more about this awesome fossil find at the links below. But, before you check out any of those links, I want to leave you with this thought about the amazing amount of work that important scientific discoveries require. The scientists on this team spent several months scrambling through the Italian Alps (mountain range) collecting the samples of amber. They then spent 2 years (2 years!) looking at each one of 70,000 samples of amber. In all those 70,000 droplets of amber, the scientists found 3 fossils (2 mites and a fly about the size of a fruit fly). So, please remember that discovering important information or doing important things takes a lot of hard work!
Links for more Information about the mite fossils and fossils preserved in amber:
- News Article from MSNBC.
- Another News Article, this one from the BBC.
- Here's an article about an amazing discovery that scientists made of feathers found in amber. The feathers belonged to some species of dinosaurs and early types of birds. When we talk about evolution, these are some very important fossils showing how feathers developed!
Below is a video about insects that have become trapped in amber. In particular, these samples were found in the Dominican Republic.