This piece of amber, discovered in the 1960s, has just been analyzed and has revealed significant content in the form of a new species of fly.
Hidden among some 70,000 pieces in the reserves of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, a small piece of amber has just been analyzed by a team of entomologists from Poland who have discovered its great interest. And for good reason: it houses an insect, a small 40 million year old midge, whose analysis revealed that it corresponds to a new species unknown in Europe.
The far north is much warmer
Baltic amber represents the largest amber deposit in the world. It is exceptionally rich with many pieces that contain botanical or zoological inclusions, particularly arthropods. This fossil resin dates back 35 to 47 million years, a period when temperatures in Europe were much higher. Around the North Sea, quasi-tropical conditions reigned with a warm and humid climate conducive to the spread of flies, mosquitoes and other diptera, insects having only one pair of functional wings. A previous find had also identified a carnivorous plant that feasted on it.
It was one of these midges, included in amber, that was examined more closely by the Polish team. First, in order to facilitate its examination, the specialists treated the piece of resin to make it more transparent. This was achieved by polishing. They then used a camera and a spectrometer to take its chemical fingerprint. This confirmed that the piece came from a Baltic amber deposit. The research even revealed that the sample had been collected on the west coast of Denmark on January 16, 1961, by a collector named CV Henningsen. The latter bequeathed to the museum nearly 3,000 pieces containing inclusions.
A new species linking two continents
Once cleaned, the amber piece was photographed and the scientists focused particularly on the male genital organ of the[…]
- sciencesetavenir.fr
