Scientists are shedding light on a mysterious beetle that flew into a coniferous tree approximately 100 million years ago, becoming trapped in its resin that subsequently fossilized into amber. Now, years later, Clemson University scientists are examining the fossilized remains, which were first discovered in Myanmar.
"For a beetle taxonomist and for the entomological community as a whole, this is an exciting discovery," Michael Caterino, co-author of the study, said in a press release.
"This is an extraordinary 99 million-year-old fossil in Burmese amber. We can see all the details of the external sculpturing of the wing covers and the head. We can see the mouth parts, which enable us to predict that this was a predator much like it's modern relatives. And it has a lot of tantalizing characteristics that we hypothesized early members of this family had. But we no longer have to guess. Now we can confirm."
The insect in a member of the Histeridae beetle family, which still exists among more than 4,000 species that thrive around the world. Furthermore, its anatomy suggests a possible relation to early ants, although as of now this is still just a hypothesis.
"Unfortunately, ancient ecology is not so easily observed, even in excellent fossils," Caterino said.
Currently, Caterino and his team are looking into CT-scanning possibilities to determine if its interior anatomy is as well preserved as its exterior fossilized structure.
"In determining evolutionary relationships by looking only at modern species, scientists are essentially guessing what the ancestors must have looked like," he said. "But in this case, we are able to see the ancestor. This gives us a lot of incentive to go into more fossil collections and search for more evidence of what creatures looked like-and even how they behaved-millions of years ago."
The findings were published in the Dec. 2 issue of Zootaxa.
