The dark patches shown left are the ancient newborn insects, which were found perfectly preserved in ancient amber.
The zoomed in images on the right show an egg burster, a small tool used by insects to smash out of their eggs
Posted on 12/26/2018 8:57:45 AM PST by ETL
The rare fossils are helping scientists understand how ancient bugs hatched from their eggs
The insects became trapped in the sticky resin 130million years ago, shortly after bursting through the shell – and scientists aren't sure how the creatures met their grisly fate.
The amazing fossils are helping researchers understand how ancient bugs hatched and took their first steps in the ancient world.
Like many modern animals, the insects used a tool known as an egg-burster to smash through the egg shell.
"The structures that make hatching possible tend to disappear quickly once egg-laying animals hatch, so obtaining fossil evidence of them is truly exceptional," said study author Dr Michael Engel, a scientist from the University of Kansas.
The team studied insects trapped in 130-million-year-old Lebanese amber, or fossilised tree resin.
All the fossils studied were stripped from the same piece of amber, and are as thin as a pinhead.
Microscopic images showed that the newborn insects, which were ancient relatives of the modern green lacewing, were locked in the amber alongside tiny egg shell fragments.
Researchers believe the insects were trapped by resin while still clutching the shells from which they had freshly emerged.
The eggs were likely planted on a tree or other plant, exposing them to resin seeping from the trunk.
Scientists spotted evidence of egg bursters, marking the first fossilised evidence of the often short-lived hatching tools.
And while the preserved bugs are millions of years apart from their modern relative the green lacewing, the pair's egg bursters are remarkably similar.
This suggests the sophisticated hatching mechanism has lasted through over 100million years of insect evolution. The bugs were ancient relatives of the modern green lacewing
"Egg bursters are diverse in shape and location," said study lead author Dr Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente, a scientist at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
"Modern green lacewing hatchlings split the egg with a 'mask' bearing a jagged blade. Once used, this 'mask' is shed and left attached to the empty egg shell, which is exactly what we found in the amber together with the newborns."
The study was published in the journal Palaeontology.
The insects became trapped in the sticky resin 130 million years ago, shortly after bursting through the shell – and scientists aren’t sure how the creatures met their grisly fate.
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My guess is they became trapped in sticky tree resin.
Better than an Alien Chest buster I guess.
Those are some spiny, long mandibled critters!
Useless! We need them trapped in amber after they suck on dino blood!
No roaches? Guess they were too quick...and that’s why they continue to survive.
My guess is they became trapped in sticky tree resin.
Lol! Yes, they apparently were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But we won't know for sure until after a lengthy investigation!
Even “scientific” writers are becoming illiterate.
If it comes out of an egg that is not contained within the mother’s body, it’s a HATCHLING. The creature is HATCHED, not born.
A third grade student wouldn’t have made this error in the 1960’s.
Our local 7-11 sells lollipops with crickets inside the candy. (VA)
I wonder what future scientists will make of that.
Interesting...
They shouldn't be after 130 Million Years.
Doh!
130 million 130 billion whatever it takes to satisfy these uniformitarians. Meanwhile we catch 60 million year old coelacanths off madegascar and extract DNA from Dino fossils
Well if all the animals are as old as they say then a thick layer of poop would cover all of the Earth’s land masses, sea floors too I’d say.
Must have been an entomologist with a minor in tautology.
The extinct gekko Yantarogekko balticus in 44 million year old
baltic amber
While most people think of insects preserved in amber in very rare instances larger animals including small reptiles have been preserved.
My questions are:
130 million years ago where was Lebanon and what did the global map look like?
Also what was the climate like and has it changed? Why?
*ping*
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