Amber is an astonishing material, trapping organisms that lived millions of years ago. Now, researchers have discovered the very first microwhip scorpion from the Mesozoic period preserved within amber.
The newly discovered microwhip scorpion has been named Electrokoenenia yaksha, a species that once lived 100 million years ago. While the arachnid does have the name "scorpion," it is only distantly related to true scorpions.
With that said, the researchers, led by Michael S. Engel of the University of Kansas and the American Museum of Natural History in the U.S. and Diying Huang of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in the People's Republic of China, are missing several of the finer details of the microwhip scorpion, which is largely due to the properties of amber. While it preserved the organism, it is also susceptible to fractures. In this case, the researchers have a difficult time fully examining the microwhip scorpion due to microscopic fractures in the amber in addition to debris that was also trapped along with the organism.
While it was difficult to see the details, the researchers could tell that the arthropod was yellowish, female, and about 1.47 millimeters long. It's actually the first microwhip scorpion ever to be found from the Mesozoic period. In fact, the only other fossil record from this particular order can be found in limestone form the Onyx Marble Formation.
Surprisingly, the organism looks very much like microwhip scorpions found today. This suggests that the microwhip scorpions of the past may have shared some of the same habitat preferences and dietary preferences as today's microwhip scorpions.
"Preservation in amber is perhaps the only medium through which such minute animals could be adequately characterized, their fine features and fragile forms too readily destroyed or rendered unidentifiable in sediments," Engel said.
The research team currently hopes to discover more specimens in order to better characterize the newly discovered, ancient species. Because of their small size, specimens are easily overlooked. This is especially true when these specimens are placed near other fossilized items or debris. In fact, researchers initially overlooked this specimen due to its placement among a series of reflective features.
With that said, finding more specimens trapped in amber could allow researchers to understand the smaller creatures that were present millions of years ago.
The team's findings were published recently in the journal The Science of Nature.
