Jurassic bugs

Summary

30 August 2012

Scientists say they've found the oldest bugs of their type ever preserved in fossilised tree resin, in the Alps of northern Italy. The finding by an international team of researchers has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Reporter:

Mark Duff

New species of ancient mites were found in 230-million-year-old amber droplets.

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Report

High in the Dolomites of northeastern Italy, Italian researchers chipping away at rocks formed more than 200 million years ago found two miniscule mites and a fly preserved in tiny drops of amber. Highly-magnified photographs of the creatures show the mites, in particular, to be perfectly preserved. At 230 million years old, they're about 100 million years older than the oldest previous find of their kind.

The bugs probably fed off the leaves of the tree in whose resin they were eventually preserved. Researchers say the discovery shows the mites' ability to adapt to changing evolutionary conditions. For film lovers, though, it has striking echoes of the Stephen Spielberg blockbuster, Jurassic Park, in which a team of scientists use the DNA of a mosquito preserved in amber to recreate dinosaurs with predictably terrifying results.

Vocabulary

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chipping away at

knocking off bits of (rocks)

miniscule

very very small

preserved

maintained in its original state

magnified

close-up

resin

sticky flammable organic substance

adapt

adjust, cope with

striking echoes

close similarities

predictably

expected