Researchers uncover New Zealand's first fossils preserved in amber
The discovery of fossil insects, nematodes and fungi preserved in amber from sites in Otago is shedding new light on New Zealand's geological and biological history.
Feb 08, 2018
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Nuclear technology unlocks 50-million-year-old time capsules
A scientific analysis of fossilised tree resin has caused a rethink of Australia's prehistoric ecosystem, and could pave the way to recovering more preserved palaeobiological artefacts from the time of dinosaurs or prehistoric ...
Researchers identify evidence of oldest orchid fossil on record
The orchid family has some 28,000 species – more than double the number of bird species and quadruple the mammal species. As it turns out, they've also been around for a while.
Monkey business produces rare preserved blood in amber fossils
Two monkeys grooming each other about 20-30 million years ago may have helped produce a remarkable new find - the first fossilized red blood cells from a mammal, preserved so perfectly in amber that they appear to have been ...
Courtship behavior trapped in 100-million-year-old amber
Courtship behaviours, frequent among modern insects, have left extremely rare fossil traces. In odonates, the male must persuade the female to mate in tandem and the female should be willing to engage her genitalia with the ...
Intact mushroom and mycophagous rove beetle in Burmese amber leak early evolution of mushrooms
Mushrooms are common, conspicuous and morphologically diverse fungi. Most agaricomycete fruiting bodies are ephemeral, so they are extremely rare in fossils. Up to now, all described species of gilled mushrooms, or agaricales, ...
Amber specimen offers rare glimpse of feathered dinosaur tail
Researchers have discovered a dinosaur tail complete with its feathers trapped in a piece of amber. The finding reported in Current Biology on December 8 helps to fill in details of the dinosaurs' feather structure and evolution, ...
Beetles pollinated orchids millions of year ago, fossil evidence shows
When most people hear the word "pollinator," they think of bees and butterflies. However, certain beetles are known to pollinate plants as well, and new fossil evidence indicates that they were doing so 20 million years ago.
Terrified insect escapes a permanent tomb—50 million years ago
Thousands of insects, plants and other life forms have been found trapped in ancient amber deposits, but a new discovery shows a rarity of a different type - the one that got away.
Mummified ancient bird offers clues about flight during mid-cretaceous
(Phys.org)—A team of researchers from China, Canada and the U.S. has found an example of mummified remains of a bird from the mid-cretaceous period, in amber. As they note in their paper published in the journal Nature ...
