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Prehistoric tiny bugs found trapped in amber
WTOP ^ | 8/28/12 | SETH BORENSTEIN

Posted on 08/28/2012 8:29:13 AM PDT by null and void


This undated handout photo provided by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the University of Göttingen shows photomicrographs of the two new species of ancient gall mites in 230-million-year-old amber droplets from northeastern Italy. The gall mites were named: Triasacarus fedelei, left, and Ampezzoa triassica. (AP Photo/A. Schmidt, University of Göttingen, Proceedings of the National Academy)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists have found three well preserved ancient insects frozen in amber — and time — in what is Earth's oldest bug trap.

The discoveries of amber-encased insects in Italy may sound like something out of "Jurassic Park" but these bugs are even older than that. They are about 230 million years old, which puts them in the Triassic time period, and about 100 million years older than what had been the previously known oldest critters trapped in fossilized tree resin, or amber.

Gooey tree resin is like sap but without water and can't be diluted.

Researchers painstakingly examined 70,000 droplets of amber found in northeastern Italy. Stuck in them were two microscopic mites and much of one fly. The mites are too small to be seen with the naked eye and the fly is a tad tinier than a fruit fly, researchers say.

The discovery was reported Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

While older insects have been found in rock fossils, these are different because they are not compressed and better preserved, said study lead author David Grimaldi, curator of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. And you can see more detail, he said.

"''That's the great thing about amber. You can make this incredible detailed comparison with living species." Grimaldi said.

And when Grimaldi compared the ancient mites to their modern day descendants, he was surprised about how similar they are. Except for difference in the mouth and fewer legs, "they're dead ringers for (modern) gall mites," he said. The modern ones can be found in bubbles or galls on plant leaves.

And that's surprising because the world itself has changed a lot from when these bugs were alive. Back then, there was only one giant continent, some early primitive dinosaurs and no flower plants. Mites now live on flowering plants, but their ancient relatives must have stayed on trees, Grimaldi said.

Derek Briggs, director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and who wasn't part of the research, called the bugs' discovery tantalizing, adding that it could help researchers further understand how life evolved on land.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: amber; fossils; godsgravesglyphs; italy; lookbackinamber; paleontology; triassic
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To: null and void; Mr. Impatient

So can we make dinosaurs now?
Not yet.

Patience, my FRiend, patience...


I’m about to have dinner, but I’m free in about an hour. Do I need to bring tools?


21 posted on 08/28/2012 3:40:41 PM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (If there is a war on women, the Kennedys are the Spec Ops troops.)
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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse

One can never have too many PCR machines...


22 posted on 08/28/2012 3:51:21 PM PDT by null and void (Day 1317 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Obama, a queer and present danger)
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To: Mr. Impatient

The End of Civilization as we know it:

First they cloned the mammoth because it looks so cute like a elephant.

Then the pterodactyl to see how it flew.

Then the megalodon shark to see if it could eat whatever it wanted in the sea.

Then someone wanted to see if velociraptors really had feathers like birds.

And you know where pure science is going.


23 posted on 08/28/2012 4:28:50 PM PDT by wildbill (You're just jealous because the Voices talk oMnly to me.)
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To: wildbill
And then someone*cough* wanted a pet T-Rex with attachable miniguns and rocket launchers.
24 posted on 08/28/2012 4:34:59 PM PDT by Mr. Impatient (Everything is about as clear as a bowling ball covered in marmite and cat noses.)
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To: null and void
"The mites are about as long as a hair is wide. "

About 100 microns. (Caucasian hair)

25 posted on 08/28/2012 6:49:03 PM PDT by blam
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To: Mr. Impatient

That is my only question:
Do these lil’ bug(gers) have any DinoDNA within?


26 posted on 08/29/2012 9:01:29 AM PDT by AFPhys ((Praying for our troops, our citizens, that the Bible and Freedom become basis of the US law again))
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To: count-your-change; null and void

The “essential difference” between Africans and Eskimos is a very small number of DNA mutations, just the number that can accumulate over several thousand generations.


27 posted on 08/30/2012 5:30:47 AM PDT by BroJoeK (a little historical perspective....)
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