Rare evidence of ‘arthropod-vertebrate relationships’ found preserved in an ancient amber

These amber fossils were discovered in the San Just (Teruel) in Spain. Scientists have previously documented the presence of insect and plant fossils from this area.

One of the ambers was to be encased in larval molts of tiny beetle larvae surrounded with portions of soft feathers. This newly found amber fragment measures only 6 millimeters across.

“The beetle larvae lived − feeding, defecating, moulting − in accumulated feathers on or close to a resin-producing tree, probably in a nest setting. A flow of resin serendipitously captured that association and preserved it for millions of…